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a 


AN   ACCOUNT 


THE   LIFE  AND   TIMES 


FRANCIS  BACON. 


EXTHACTED  FRO]Vf  THE  EDITION  OF  HIS  OCCASIONAL 
WRITINGS  BY  JAMES  SPEDDING. 


IN  TWO   VOLUMES. 
VOL.   I. 


^STON: 
JKOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY. 

■^       €\it  Stbcrcitie  I3rrsc,  Carabrilifff. 
1880. 


Copyright,  1878, 
Bt  HOUGHTON,  OSGOOD   &  CO. 

All  rights  reserved. 


RIVERSIDR,  CAMnRTDOC: 

•  TKRKOTVPEI)    AND     PRINTED    BT 

II.    0.    llOHaUTON   AND   COMPANT. 


■  --"1 

PUBLISHERS'  NOTE. 


•'  The  Philosophical,  Literary,  and  Professional  Works 
of  Francis  Bacon,"  in  seven  volumes,  octavo,  was  issued 
in  England  in  1857-59,  under  the  editorship  of  Messrs. 
Spedding,  Ellis,  and  Heath,  and  reprinted  in  this  coun- 
try with  the  sanction  and  aid  of  Mr.  Spedding,  in  fif- 
teen volumes,  crown  octavo.  The  plan  of  the  English 
edition  intended  a  second  series,  to  contain  the  occasional 
writings  of  Bacon,  and  this  series,  under  the  editorship  of 
Mr.  Spedding  alone,  followed  in  1861-1874,  and  occupied 
seven  volumes,  uniform  witli  the  previous  series.  It  was 
so  far  a  distinct  work  as  to  take  on  an  independent  title, 
as  follows :  — 

"  The  Letters  and  the  Life  of  Francis  Bacon,  includ- 
ing all  his  Occasional  Works,  namely.  Letters,  Speeches, 
Tracts,  State  Papers,  Memorials,  Devices,  and  all  authen- 
tic writings  not  already  printed  among  his  Philosophical, 
Literary,  or  Professional  Works  :  newly  collected  and 
set  forth  in  chronological  order,  with  a  Commentary,  bio- 
graphical and  historical;  by  James  Spedding." 

This  descriptive  title  indicates  the  editor's  purpose  to 
make  the  later  division  of  Bacon's  writings  as  exhaustive 
as  the  earlier ;  the  character  of  the  writings  led  him  to 
present  them  in  a  different  manner.  In  the  first  series, 
critical  and  historical  prefaces  and  notes  precede  and 
accompany  the    separate   works ;    in   the  second,   a  bio- 

157 J  057 


y^  PUBLISHERS'   NOTE. 

m-aphical  and  historical  commentary  forms  a  frame  in 
which  are  set  the  letters  and  occasional  writmgs,  so  that 
while  the  book  is  entitled  "  The  Letters  and  the  Life  of 
Francis  Bacon,"  not  far  from  one  half  of  the  whole  work 
consists  of  Mr.  Spedding's  commentary.     As  Bacon  en- 
tered the  service  of  the  state  when  twenty-four  years  old, 
and  remained  in  it  until  his  death,  and  as  the  years  in- 
cluded by  his  life,  1560-1626,  covered  one  of  the  notable 
periods  of  Enghsh  history,  it  is  plain  that  the  re.ultmg 
work  must  be  a  contribution  both  to  the  personal  history 
of  Bacon  and  to  the  political  history  of  England.         ^ 

Covering  this  field  and  displaying  so  minute  a  criticism, 
"  The  Letters  and  the  Life  of  Bacon  "  is  a  comprehensive 
and  suggestive  work,  which  no  thorough  student  of  Bacon 
and  his  times  can  afford  to  neglect.     But  the  comprehen- 
siveness of  the  plan  has  stood  in  the  way  of  a  republica- 
tion of  the  book  in  this  country.     The  number  of  scholars 
who  ca-h  give  themselves  to  so  full  an  examination  of  the 
subiect  is  necessarily  small,  and  for  such  the  original  edi- 
tion remains.     But  the  recent  issue  here  of  a  Popular 
Edition  of  Bacon's  works,  in  two  volumes,  gathered  froni 
the  complete  edition    in   fifteen  volumes,  has   met  with 
so  hearty  a  reception  from  the  public  as  to  encourage 
the  publishers  in  the  belief  that  there  is  a  large  body  o 
readers  interested  in  Bacon  and  his  writings,  who  would 
gladly  avail  themselves  of  an  opportunity  to  read  a  biog- 
raphy which  should  present  the  result  of  the  most  thor- 
ough criticism  and  inquiry,  and  include  so  much  of  con- 
temporary  history  as  is  needed  to  give  the  Life  its  proper 

setting.  ,  1  J       ;i 

With  this  view  the  present  work  has  been  planned  and 
executed.  Mr.  Spedding,  in  the  original  edition,  gave 
every  scrap  of  Bacon's  writings,  not  included  in  the  pre- 
vious series,  which  he  could  discover,  adding  also  various 


PUBLISHERS'   NOTE.  V 

papers  conjecturally  Bacon's,  and  supplied  the  reader 
with  all  necessary  apparatus  for  an  intelligent  apprehen- 
sion of  the  occasion,  scope,  and  influence  of  these  writ- 
ings. His  plan  led  him  into  many  subjects  which  have 
only  an  antiquarian  interest,  but  it  also  required  him  to 
examine  and  state  anew  many  points  of  English  history 
which  never  can  lose  their  interest  for  English  and 
American  readers.  The  editor  of  this  American  abridg- 
ment has  followed  Mr.  Spedding's  order  and  authority  in 
all  points  ;  his  part  has  been  to  retain  those  portions 
which  he  judges  to  be  of  most  interest  to  American  read- 
ers. The  result  is  that  the  relations  of  the  two  parts  of 
the  work  have  been  somewhat  altered.  The  commentary 
has  become  the  main  thing,  and  the  writings  are  intro- 
duced as  illustrating  that.  Hence,  the  book  is  no  longer 
the  Letters  and  the  Life ;  it  is  not  even  the  Life  and  the 
Letters,  for  the  letters  form  so  subordinate  a  part  that 
the  introduction  of  the  word  in  the  title  would  be  mis- 
leading. Bacon's  letters  form  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  original  work,  but  in  any  popular  and  brief  life  of 
Bacon,  the  majority  of  them  are  not  essential  to  the 
reader,  although  necessary  to  the  writer. 

The  task  of  condensation  was  undertaken  with  j\Ir. 
Spedding's  permission,  but  without  any  suggestion  from 
him  as  to  its  scope.  When  the  selections  had  been  made, 
he  examined  them  with  a  view  of  their  being  read  as 
a  separate  Life,  inserted  what  he  thought  wanting  in  the 
way  of  connection  or  explanation,  and  corrected  such 
errors  or  supplied  such  deficiencies  as  he  had  discovered 
since  the  publication  of  his  original  work.  The  book, 
therefore,  as  it  now  stands,  may  be  regarded  as  embody- 
ing the  editor's  conception  of  what  would  be  chosen  by 
an  American  reader  who  should  judiciously  skip  in  his 
reading  of  the  original   work,  and   Mr.  Spedding's  final 


VI 


PUBLISHERS'   NOTE. 


literary  revision.     For   the  selection   (tliongli    moditi. 
here  and  there  according  to  Mr.  Spedcling's  suggestions^ 
the  editor  is  responsible.     The  text  is  wholly  Mr.  Sped- 

ding's. 

With  reo-ard  to  the  specific  division  into  chapters,  and 
the  selection  of  foot-notes,  the  editor  has  used  liis  discre- 
tion, without  recourse  to  Mr.  Spedding.     In  the  original 
work,  the  division  was  into  books,  chapters  and  sections. 
In  this,  the  order  of  books  has  been  followed,  the  section 
divisions  have  been  dropped,  and  the  chapters  have  been 
reformed  to  meet  the  necessities  of  an  abridgment  which 
sometimes   accepted  an   entire    chapter,  sometimes  com- 
bined several  chapters  into  one.     In  selectmg  the  foot- 
notes, the  editor's  plan  has  been  to  retain  generally  those 
which  supplement  the  text,  and  a  few  which  refer  to  au- 
thorities accessible  to  American  students;  he  has  omitted 
those  which  point  to  authorities  not  accessible,  or  are  in- 
troduced to  enable   students  to  verify  statements  in  the 
text       The    general    reader    must    and  will    accept   Mr. 
Spedding's  word  in  a  work  of  this  kind  ;  if  he  wishes  for 
final  authorities,  he  will  find  abundant  help  in  his  search 
by  a  reference  to  Mr.  Spedding's  original  work. 

*,*  Tl.c  footnote  references  to  Bacon's  Works  are  in  all  cases  to  the 
Poimlar  Edition  in  two  volumes,  published  by  Houghton,  Osgood  i.  Co., 
unless  otherwise  specified. 


CONTENTS 

OF  THE   FIRST  VOLUME. 


BOOK  I. 
CHAPTER  I. 

A.  D.  1560-1584.     JETAT.  1-24. 

Birth.  —  Parents.  —  Circumstances  and  Impressions  of  Boyhood.  — 
Residence  at  Cambridge.  —  Ideas  and  Aspirations  with  Regard  to 
the  Advancement  of  Ivnowledge.  —  Three  leading  Objects  of  In- 
terest. —  Residence  in  France  with  the  English  Ambassador.  — 
Condition  of  Europe  at  the  Time.  —  Death  of  his  Father,  and 
Commencement  of  Law  Studies  at  Gray's  Inn.  —  Application  for 
Employment  in  the  Queen's  Service.  —  Admitted  Utter  BarrLster. 
—  Occupations  at  Gray's  Inn     .......         1-13 

CHAPTER  II. 

A.  D.  1584-1586.     ^TAT.  24-26. 

Commencement  of  Public  Life.  —  M.  P.  for  Malcombe  in  the  Parlia- 
ment of  1584.  —  Unanimity  of  Parties  in  Measures  for  the  Safety 
of  the  Queen's  Person.  —  Strength  of  the  Opposition  on  Church 
Questions.  —  State  of  the  Question  between  the  Nonconformists  and 
the  Government.  —  Orthodoxiolatry.  — Great  Petition.  —  Confer- 
ence with  the  Bishops.  —  Lady  Bacon's  Application  to  Burghley  in 
behalf  of  the  Preachers.  —  Bacon's  Letter  to  Sir  Francis  Walsing- 
ham.  —  Fate  of  his  first  Suit. — Fresh  Application  to  Burghley 
for  some  Furtherance  in  his  professional  Career.  —  Contemporary 
Criticism  of  his  Behavior.  —  Burghley's  Admonition.  —  Letter  to 
Lord  Burghley.  —  Full  Admission  to  the  Bench      .         .         •         14-24 

CHAPTER  m. 

A.  D.  1586-1589.     ^TAT.  26-29. 

Character  of  the  Act  passed  in  the  last  Parliament  for  Defense  of 
the  Queen's  Person.  —  Conspiracy  and  Trial  of  Mary,  Queen  of 
Scots. — A  new  Parliament  summoned. — Execution  of  Mary. — 


Vlll  CONTENTS   OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME. 

Conduct  of  Elizabeth.  —  Proceedings  in  Parliament.  —  Subsidy 
voted.  —  Benevolence  proposed  and  offered,  but  declined.  —  Com- 
mittal of  Members  to  the  Tower  for  raising  Questions  concerning 
Ecclesiastical  Government  and  Right  of  Free  Speech  in  the  Lower 
House.  —  Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada. — Apprehensions  of  an- 
other Invasion. —  A  new  Parliament  summoned. — A  Double  Sub- 
sidy granted  for  the  first  Time,  with  Request  for  a  Declaration  of 
War  against  Spain. — Progress  of  Disputes  between  High  Church- 
men and  Nonconformists.  —  Martin  Marjirelate.  —  Bacon's  "  Adver- 
tisement touching  the  Conti'oversles  of  the  Church  of  England."  — 
Effect  of  tlie  Controversies  upon  Opinion  abroad.  —  Importance  of 
making  Elizabeth's  Dealings  with  the  Religious  Parties  in  England 
properly  understood  in  France. — Letter  to  Archbishop  Whitgift. — 
Probability  that  Bacon  wrote  the  Letter  from  Sir  Francis  Walsing- 
ham  to  M.  Critoy.  —  The  Letter,  stating  the  Relation  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  Papists  and  to  Puritans.  —  Possible  Connection  of  An- 
thony Bacon  with  M.  Critoy's  Communication.  —  Clerkship  of  the 
Counsel  in  the  Star  Chamber  granted  to  Bacon  in  Reversion  25-49 

CHAPTER   IV. 

A.  D.  1590-1592.     JETAT.  30-32. 

Beginning  of  acquaintance  between  Bacon  and  the  Earl  of  Essex.  — 
The  Promise  given  by  the  Earl  at  the  Beginning  of  his  Career.  — 
Anthony  Bacon's  Return  from  Abroad.  —  Objects,  Hopes,  and 
Wishes.  —  Letter  to  Lord  Burghley.  —  The  two  Brothers  to- 
gether. —  Lady  Bacon  at  Gorhainbury.  —  Her  Interview  with  Cap- 
tain Allen.  —  Her  Letter  to  Anthony  on  his  Return.  —  Lady  Bacon 
and  her  Sons.  —  Bacon  at  Twickenham.  —  His  Relations  to  Essex. 
—  Letter  to  Thomas  Phillips. — Bacon's  Contribution  to  the  Cel- 
ebration of  the  Queen's  Day,  1592. — Publication  of  Parsons'  "Re- 
sponsio  "  and  Bacon's  "  Observations  on  a  Libel "  .        .        50-68 

CHAPTER   V. 

A.  D.  159.3.      ^TAT.   33. 

Fresh  Intrigues  between  Spain  and  Scotland.  —  Apprehensions  of  In- 
vasion.—  A  new  Parliament  summoned.  —  Relations  between  the 
Crown,  the  Lords,  and  the  Commons. —  Certain  I'oints  of  Consti- 
tutional Usage  not  yet  fully  established.  —  Attempts  on  the  part 
of  tlie  Crown  and  the  Ujiper  House  to  encroach.  —  Committal  of 
Peter  Wentworth  and  others,  for  introducing  a  Petition  relating  to 
the  Succession.  —  Motion  for  Committee  of  Supply.  —  Bacon's 
Speech  in  support  of  the  Motion.  —  Grant  of  a  Double  Subsidy 
recommended  by  the  Committee.  —  Clonference  demanded  by  the 
Lords.  —  Intimation  frum  the  Lord   Treasurer  that    ihe    proposed 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  ilKST  VOLUME.  ix 

Grant  was  not  sufficient,  and  demand  of  another  Conference  to  dis- 
cuss the  Matter.  —  Bacon's  Objection  to  joint  Discussion,  as  against 
the  Privileges  of  the  Lower  House.  —  The  Proposal  declined.  —  The 
Queen  pi-epares  to  retreat ;  and  the  Pretension  of  the  Lords  is  silently 
Avithdrawn.  —  Grant  of  three  Subsidies,  payable  in  four  years, 
proposed.  —  Bacon's  Speech  of  Amendment  on  the  Motion. — 
Original  Motion  carried  in  Committee,  and  agreed  to  without  Di- 
vision on  the  Whole  House. — Progress  of  Taxation. — Bill  passed 
and  presented  to  the  Queen. —  Balance  of  Loss  and  Gain  to  the 
Crown  upon  the  whole  Proceeding.  —  Conduct  of  Coke  as  Speaker. 

—  The  Queen's  Message  to  the  House  delivered  by  him.  —  Eight  of 
the  Crown  to  determine  what  Subjects  should  be  discussed  in  Par- 
liament and  what  not.  —  Competition  between  Bacon  and  Coke  for 
the  Attorney  Generalship  ;  their  Pretensions  declared.  —  Conse- 
quences of  Bacon's  Speech  on  the  Subsidy  Bill.  —  Intimation  of 
the  Queen's  Displeasure. — Letter  to  the  Lord  Treasurer  in  ex- 
cuse of  his  Speech.  —  Bacon  forbidden  to  come  into  the  Queen's 
Presence.  —  Proposes  to  give  up  Court  and  Law,  and  betake  him- 
self to  other  Pursuits. —  Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Essex.  —  Essex  per- 
suades him  to  postpone  his  Resolution  and  promises  to  get  him 
made  Attorney  General.  —  Bacon  endeavors  to  engage  Burghley  in 
the  Cause  by  the  Mediation  of  his  Sons.  —  Letter  to  Sir  Robert 
Cecil.  —  Sir  Robert's  Advice.  —  Progress  of  Essex's  Mediation. — 
Bacon  takes  Occasion  to  state  his  Case  for  himself.  —  Letter  to  the 
Earl  of  Essex.  —  Letter  to  the  Queen.  —  The  Queen  reported  to  be 
appeased  69-107 

CHAPTER   VL 
A.  D.  1593-1594.     ^TAT.  33-34. 

Importance  to  Bacon  of  having  the  Question  settled  whichever  way. 

—  Pecuniary  Difficulties.  —  Proposed  Relief  through  the  Sale  of  an 
Estate. — Lady  Bacon's  Consent  necessary. — Conditions  required 
by  her.  —  Letter  from  Lady  Bacon  to  Anthony  Bacon.  —  Earl  of 
Essex  sworn  a  Privy  Councillor. — Relation  between  him  and  the 
Bacons. — Progress  of  Essex's  Mediation  in  Favor  of  Bacon. — 
Disposition  of  Burghley.  —  Still  no  Resolution  taken  in  regard  to 
the  Attorneyship.  —  Bacon's  first  Pleadings  in  the  King's  Bench  and 
Exchequer. — Progress  of  Canvass  for  the  Attorneyship.  —  Conver- 
sation between  Essex  and  Sir  Robert  Cecil.  —  Conspiracy  of  Dr. 
Lopez  to  poison  the  Queen.  —  Coke  to  be  Attorney  General.  — Ba- 
con the  likeliest  Candidate  for  the  Solicitorship,  if  the  Impression 
of  his  Speech  on  the  Subsidy  Bill  were  removed.  —  Letter  to  the 
Earl  of  Essex.  —  The  Queen  shows  Signs  of  relenting.  —  Bacon 
begins  to  be  emjjloyed  in  Business  of  the  Learned  Counsel.  —  Ap- 
pointed to  go  to  the  North  on  State  Service.  —  Letter  to  the  Queen. 


£  CONTENTS  OF   THE  FIRST  VOLUME. 

_  Tates  his  M.  A.  De-rees  at  Cambridge.  -Fragments  of  a  Dis- 
course touching  Intelligence  and  the  Safety  of  the  Queen  s  Person. 
1  Conditions  of  the  Time,  and  Duties  of  a  Crown  Lawyer- 
State  of  Elizabeth's  Council-Table. -Bacon  continues  to  be  em- 
ployed in  Examinations.  -  Nature  of  an  Exammation  upon  Inter- 
roitories.- Money  Matters. -Debtor  and  Creditor  Acconnt  be- 
tween Anthony  and  Francis.  -  Holiday  Occupations,  graye  and 
gay  -Merry  Christmas  at  Gray's  lun. -"  Gesta  Grayo  urn.  - 
Ihe  Prince  of  Purpoole  in  Council.  -  Speeches  of  the  Six  Coun- 
cillors.-Relation  of  the  Composition  to  Bacon's  ^^^"«"«  SpecuU-^^^^ 
tions 

CHAPTER  VII. 

A.  D.  1.594-1595,  JANUART-NOVEMBER.       ^TAT.  34. 

Bacon's  Resolution  to  give  up  the  Suit  for  the  Solicitorship  and  go 
abroad  -Essex's  Attempt  tobringthe  Matter  to  a  Cnsis.  -  Bacon 
sent  for  to  the  Court. -Letter  to  Anthony  Bacon. -Encosurc  to 
Sir  Robert  Cecil.  -  Appointment  still  in  Suspense,  and  Bacon  st.ll 
a  Suitor.  -  Letter  to  Foulke  Greyille.- Bacon  again  reminded  o 
liisold  Offense  in   the  Matter  of  the    Subsidy  Bill  m    1593    and 
a..ain  tenders  the  old  Excuse.  -  Serjeant  Flem.ngappomted  So- 
lictor -Probable  Cause  of  the  Queen's  long  Indecision  and  final 
Resolution. -Essex's  Disappointment  and  his  Muniticence  towards 
Bacon  -Grant  from  the  Crown  to  Bacon  of  the  Lease  of  certain 
Landsat  Twickenham,  in  Reyersion.- Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Essex. 
-Apprehensions  and  Warnings. -Essex  in  full  favor  aga.n— 
Celebration  of  the  Anniversary  of  the  Queens   Accession. -Ba_^^^_^ 
con's  Position  at  this  time 

BOOK  II. 
CHAPTER    L 

A.  D.  159.')-1597.     yi:TAT.  35-37. 

Literary  Work:  "Formularies  and  Elegancies,"  "  Essays  "  etc  - 
p;.:jfcted  Attack  on  the  Spanish  Fleet  and  Coasts.  -  Qualihcat.ons 
of  the  Earl  of  Essex  for  Command.  -  Expedition  agauis  Spam.  - 
Essex  Commander  of  the  Forces  by  Land. -Capture  of  Cadiz. - 
Position  of  Essex. -Letter  of  Advice  to  Essex  -Occupations  - 
"Maxims  of  the  Law,"  "Essays,"  "Colors  of  Good  and  LmI, 
"Meditationes  Sacr.."-E.ex  at  Court.  -  Quarrels  and  Recon- 
ciliations.-Made  Master  of  the  Ordnance. -Death  of  S,r  Wil- 
liam Hatton.- Bacon's  Project  of  Marriage  with  the  W.dow  - 
Another  Expedition  against   Spain.  -  Essex   Commander-in-ch.cf 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME.  XI 

both  by  Land  and  Sea.  —  Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Essex. — Inquiry 
concerning  the  fees  exacted  by  Mr.  Mill,  Clerk  of  the  Star  Cham- 
ber.—  The  Island  Voyage.  — Plan  and  Conduct  of  the  Expedition  ; 
Causes  of  Failure.  —  Why  Essex  took  the  Fleet  to  St.  Michael's 
when  his  Business  was  to  intercept  the  Passage  to  Terceira ;  and 
why  the  Capture  of  Fayal  by  Raleigh  was  not  mentioned  in  the 
official  Report  of  the  Voyage.  —  The  English  Coast  in  Danger.  — 
The  Spanish  Fleet  in  the  Channel  dispersed  and  disabled  by  a 
Storm.  —  Return  of  the  English  Fleet.  —  Essex's  Grievances      174-203 

CHAPTER   IL 

A.  D.  1597-1598.     .ffiTAT.  37. 

A  new  Parliament.  —  Decorous  and  dignified  Proceeding  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. —  Postponement  of  Motion  for  Supply  till  all  the  prin- 
cipal Commonwealth  Measures  had  been  introduced.  — Relief  of 
the  Poor.  —  Maintenance  of  Husbandry.  —  Grant  of  three  Subsi- 
dies payable  in  three  years  passed  without  a  dissentient  Voice.  — 
Jealousies  and  Discontents  of  the  Earl  of  Essex.  —  The  Lord  Ad- 
miral created  Earl  of  Nottingham.  —  Question  of  Precedence.  — 
Essex  made  Earl  Marshal.  —  Sir  Robert  Cecil's  Negotiation  in 
France. — Irish  Affairs.  —  Truce  with  the  Earl  of  Tyrone. — A 
Letter  of  Advice  to  the  Earl  of  Essex  to  take  upon  him  the 
Care  of  Irish  Causes  when  Mr.  Secretary  Cecil  was  in  France.  — 
Terms  offered  to  Tyrone.  —  His  Exception.  —  Bacon's  Advice 
asked  for  by  Essex. — A  Letter  of  Advice  to  the  Earl  of  Essex, 
upon  the  first  Treaty  with  Tyrone,  1598,  before  the  Earl  was  nom- 
inated for  the  Charge  of  Ireland.  —  Tyrone  pardoned.  —  Measures 
of  Precaution  neglected.  —  Progress  of  Negotiation  in  France. — 
Essex  and  the  Queen.  —  The  great  Quarrel.  —  Letter  to  the  Earl 
of  Essex.  —  Altered  Relation  between  Essex  and  the  Queen       204-231 

CHAPTER  III. 

A.  D.  1598-1599.     ^TAT.  38-39. 

Bacon  arrested  for  Debt.  —  Letter  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  24th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1598.  —  Letter  to  Lord  Keeper  Egerton. — More  Tower 
Employment.  —  Conspiracy  of  Edward  Squire. — Credibility  of 
the  Story.  —  Irish  Affairs.  —  Breach  of  the  Treat}'  by  Tyrone.  — 
Siege  of  Blackwater. — Defeat  of  Sir  Henry  Bagnali  and  spread 
of  the  Rebellion.  — Essex  becomes  more  submissive  and  is  admitted 
again  to  see  the  Queen.  —  Death  of  Sir  Richard  Bingham. — Ne- 
cessity of  a  great  Effort  to  reconquer  Ireland.  —  Lord  Montjoy 
nominated  for  the  Charge. — Nomination  canceled  by  the  Influ- 
ence of  Essex,  who  undertakes  the  Task  himself. — Bacon,  being 
applied  to  for  Advice,  endeavors  unsuccessfully  to  dissuade  him 


Xii  CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLIBIE. 

from  croiDjr.  -Largeness  of  the  Authority  stipulated  for  by  Essex. 
-Baton's  Uneasiuess.  -  Letter  of  Advice  to  my  Lord  ot  Essex  xm- 
„.ediately  before  the  going  to  Ireland.  - Misgivmgs  .xth  regard^to 
Essex's  Purposes.  -Tone  of  his  Letters  to  the  Council.  -  Demands 
and  CompMnts.- Behavior  before  he  arrived  at  the  Scene  of  Ac- 
tfon  -Proceedings  upon  his  Arrival.  -  Disposition  of  the  Rebel 
S:;es.-Srch  through  Munster,  and  return  to  Dublin  .vith  the 
Irmy  half  wasted  away. -Professes  an  Intention  to  march  against 
Cone  in   Ulster,  but  wants  a  Reinforcement  of  two  thousand 
Me" -Disaster  of  Sir  Conyers  Clifford. -March  into  Ulster  - 
StatL   of  the   Armv.-Advice   of   the    Captams. -Meeting   .Mth 
Tvtne     Parlev  and  Truce.  -  General  Result  of  the  Campa.gn^- 
D  fficultv  of  believing  that  Essex's  first  Object  was  to  put  an  End 
to  the  R-ebellion.  -  Conjecture  as  to  his  real  Design^-  The  Qu  en 
demnnds  Explanation,  and  in  the  mean  time  commands  him  to  stay 
and  vai    for  his  Instructions.  -  Essex's  Difficulty  -  Bemg  unable 
to  exptl  u  the  Grounds  of  his  Proceeding  except  m  Person  he  pio- 
to  explain  i  -f„„,„„c,  at  the  head  of  his  Army;  but  by  Ad- 

«  B^nd  of   Captain,. -Hi,   sudd™  Appeara~e   a.  No     „  h 
a„d  Recepdon  by  .1,0  «»««»•- ^*»'°°^'''TSw,  of     Luer  to 

Z  Sicf  hf;™  M..-H.  I.n„.aoce  of  E....  «al  P»._^^^ 
tion 

CHAPTER  IV. 
A   D.  1599-1600.     ^TAT.  39-40. 

olence  threatened.  —  His  Ai.sonce  _How 

-  -.ration  was  ^^^^:^::  ^::^.^L  ..^  the 
;"'  of  S^^ts  -  Pvr  ticn  hv  Lord  Montjoy.  -  Object  of  the  In- 
^!"«:'  ^iCex  recommended  by  his  Friends  to  attempt  an  Escape 
"f^'^-~^"'l'^,rXosto  lead  the  life  of  a  Fugitive.  -  Montjoy 
CoSX^hrct::^  in  irdand.- Renewed  Proposition  to 


CONTENTS   OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME.  Xlli 

the  King  of  Scots  for  the  Airangemeut  of  some  joint  Action  be- 
tween the  Army  in  Scotland,  the  Army  in  Ireland,  and  the  Earl's 
Partisans  in  England,  to  compel  a  Declaration  as  to  the  Succession, 
—  The  King  of  Scots  not  prepared.  —  Essex  urges  Montjoy  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  design,  who  declines.  —  Essex  allowed  to  return  to 
his  own  House  under  charge  of  a  Keeper.  —  The  Queen  having 
no  Suspicion  of  these  things,  resolves  to  bring  the  Case  of  Esse.x  to 
a  formal  Hearing.  —  Judicial  Proceeding  at  York  House.  —  Com- 
position of  the  Court  and  Form  of  Proceeding.  —  Part  assigned  to 
Bacon.  —  Sentence  of  the  Court.  —  Bacon's  Advice  to  the  Queen.  — 
His  Unsuccess.  —  Essex  released  from  his  Keeper,  and  ultimately 
restored  to  full  Liberty 275-297 


CHAPTER    V. 

A.  D.  1600,  JULY -1601,  FEBRUARY.      ^TAT.  40. 

Bacon's  Part  in  the  Proceeding  at  York  House.  —  His  dealings  with 
and  for  the  Earl  during  the  next  two  Months.  —  Letter  to  the  Earl 
of  Essex,  20th  of  July,  1600. —The  Earl's  Answer.  —  Letters 
drawn  up  for  him  by  Bacon.  —  The  Objects  in  View. — Bacon's 
Advice  followed  for  awhile. — The  Effects  of  it.  —  Essex's  Dan- 
gers and  secret  Fears.  —  Contrast  between  the  Temper  in  which 
he  affected  to  be  and  the  Temper  in  which  he  really  was.  —  Change 
in  the  Queen's  Feelings  towards  him,  and  the  Causes  of  it.  —  Mo- 
nopoly Patent  not  renewed. —  Bacon's  Influence  at  an  end. — Pri- 
vate Affairs.  —  Preparation  for  his  Double  Reading  at  Gray's  Inn. 
—  Payment  of  pressing  Debts.  —  Essex,  returning  to  his  former 
Projects,  resolves  to  carry  his  Ends  by  Force.  —  Unsuccessful  At- 
tempt to  engage  Montjoy  in  the  Action.  —  Renewed  Intrigues  with 
King  of  Scots.  —  Preparations  for  surprising  and  overpowering  the 
Court.  —  Message  from  the  Council.  —  Sudden  Change  in  the  Plan 
of  Action. — Message  from  the  Queen. — Treatment  of  the  Mes- 
sengers.—  Endeavor  to  get  Help  in  the  City.  —  Proclamation. — 
Fi"-ht  on  Ludgate  Hill.  —  The  whole  Party  surrounded  in  Essex 
House  and  forced  to  Surrender  at  Discretion.  — Proceedings  of  the 
Council.  —  Investigations  and  ultimate  Discovery  of  the  whole 
Plot.  —  Bacon's  Part. — Arraignment  of  Es.sex. —  His  intended 
Defense.  —  Opening  of  the  Case  by  the  Queen's  Counsel.  —  Ac- 
count of  the  IMS.  from  which  the  History  of  the  Trial  is  taken. — 
Evidence  of  the  Tumult  at  Essex  House.  —  The  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice's Depo-sition.  —  The  Proceeding  how  justified  by  Essex. — 
Evidence  of  the  preliminary  Consultations  and  Preparations. — 
Sir  Ferdinando  Gorge  sent  for.  —  Unsea-sonable  Digressions. — 
Pretext  of  personal  Danger  :  how  justified.  —  Sir  "Walter  Ralegh's 
Deposition. —  Story  that  the  Kingdom  was  to  he  sold  to  the  Span- 
iard: how  justified. —  Sir   R.  Cecil   and  Sir  William  Knollys. — 


XIV  CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME. 

Desultory  and  Disorderly  setting  forth  of  the  Evidence.  —  Bacon's 
First  Speech.  —  Essex's  Retort  and  unsuccessful  Attempt  to  draw 
Bacon  into  a  personal  Altercation.  —  His  successful  Reply  to 
Coke's  Charge  of  Hypocrisy  in  Religion. —  Southampton's  Defense. 

—  Opinion  of  the  Judges.  —  Coke's  Argument.  —  Bacon's  second 
Speech.  —  Verdict  and  Sentence.  —  Errors  in  the  Management  of 
the  Case  by  Coke,  and  inadequate  Impression  on  the  Public  Mind. 

—  Chamberlain's  Account  of  the  Trial  ....        298-342 

CHAPTER  VI. 

A.  D.  1601,   FEBRUARY-APRIL.      iETAT.  40. 

Essex's  Confession  of  his  own  Guilt,  and  Information  against  his  As- 
sociates :  how  induced  and  of  what  Nature.  —  His  Behavior  on  the 
Scaffold.  —  Trial  of  Sir  John  Davis. — Bacon's  Speech.  —  Bacon 
commanded  to  draw  up  a  Narrative  of  the  Treason  for  the  Infor- 
mation and  Satisfaction  of  the  Public. — Misconception  of  the 
Character  of  this  Narrative  by  the  next  Generation.  —  Ground- 
lessness of  the  Charge  brought  against  Bacon  by  Mr.  Jardine.  — 
The  Declaration  meant  and  believed  by  its  Authors  to  be  a  scrupu- 
lously veracious  Narrative.  —  The  one  considerable  Error  in  Ba- 
con's Narrative.  —  Probable  Origin  of  the  Error.  —  Tlie  substan- 
tial Truth  of  his  Story  confirmed  by  the  Correction  of  it.  —  Upon 
a  fair  Review  of  Bacon's  Conduct  toward  Essex  from  first  to  last 
no  Fault  to  be  found  with  any  part  of  it  ....     343-361 


BOOK  III. 
CHAPTER    I. 

A.  n.   1601,    APRIL-DECEMBEU.      iETAT.  40. 

Altercation  between  Bacon  and  Coke  in  the  Exchequer. — Letter  to 
Mr.  Secretary  Cecil,  29th  of  April,  1601.  —  Letter  of  Expostula- 
tion to  the  Attorney  General. —  Death  of  Anthony  Bacon.  —  His 
Character  and  Services.  —  Story  told  of  him  by  Sir  Henry  Woiton 
accounted  for.  —  Fines  and  Pardons  of  the  Persons  engaged  in  Es- 
sex's Conspiracy.  —  Sum  assigned  to  Bacon  out  of  Catesby's  Fine. 
—  The  Queen  and  the  Monopolies.  —  Occupation  of  Kin.sale  in 
Ireland  by  the  Spaniards.  —  A  new  Parliament  Summoned.  —  Ba- 
con's Views  as  to  the  Business  of  Parliament.  —  Grant  of  Four 
Subsidies,  payable  in  three  years  and  a  half.  —  Commencement 
of  the  Att.nck  upon  Monopolies.  —  Speech  in  the  Hou.so  against  a 
Bill  for  the  Explanation  of  the  Common  Law  in  certain  (-ascs  of 
Letters  Patents.  —  Hill  committed. —  Speech  in  Committee  against 
the  same.  —  Motion  for  a   Pctiticm  to  the  Queen  for  Leave  to  j)a8s 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME.  XV 

an  Act  making  Monopolies  of  no  more  Force  tlian  they  are  at  the 
Common  Law. —  Seconded  by  Bacon  :  but  no  Decision  taken. — 
Cecil's  Interference.  —  The  Queen's  Message.  —  Proclamation  to 
suspend  the  execution  of  Monopoly  Patents  till  tried  by  Common 
Law.  —  Satisfaction  of  the  House.  —  The  Queen's  last  Speech  to 
her  People  362-391 

CHAPTER  II. 

A.  D.  1601-1603.     ^TAT.  41-43. 

Money  Difficulties.  —  Mortgage  of  Twickenham  Park.  —  Defeat  of 
the  Spanish  Forces  in  Ireland.  —  Bacon  writes  to  Cecil  touching 
the  Queen's  Service  in  Ireland.  —  Submission  of  Tyrone.  —  Mont- 
joy's  Instructions  and  Proceedings. — Illness  and  Death  of  Eliz- 
abeth.—  James  I.  proclaimed  King.  —  Bacon  seeks  to  get  himself 
recommended  to  his  Favor.  —  An  Offer  of  Service  to  his  Majesty 
K.  James  upon  his  first  coming  in.  —  A  Letter  to  the  Earl  of  North- 
umberland, mentioning  a  Proclamation  drawn  for  the  King  at  his 
Entrance.  — The  Proclamation.  —  Proceedings  of  the  Council  dur- 
ing the  Interregnum.  — Relations  between  Bacon  and  Lord  South- 
ampton. —  A  Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton  upon  the  King's 
coming  in.  —  Bacon's  Interview  with  the  King  and  first  Impres- 
sions.—  A  Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Northumberland  after  he  had  been 
with  the  King.  —  Bacon's  Official  Position  and  Prospects.  —  State 
of  his  Private  Affairs.  —  Project  of  Marriage. — Letter  to  Robert 
Lord  Cecil  3  July,  1603. — Letter  to  the  same  16  July,  1603. — 
Progress  of  Philosophical  Speculations.  —  Preface  to  intended 
Treatise  "  De  Interpretatione  Natura;."  —  Probable  Occasion  and 
Object  of  Book  on  the  "Advancement  of  Learning."  —  His  Opin- 
ion upon  the  Union  of  England  and  Scotland,  in  a  Discourse  pri- 
vately dedicated  to  King  James.  —  Dispute  between  the  High 
Churchmen  and  the  Puritans.  —  True  Policy  of  the  Government. 
—  Conference  at  Hampton  Court.  —  The  Priests' Plot.  —  Trial  of 
Sir  Walter  Ralegh.  —  Popular  Impressions  with  regard  to  Bacon's 
Conduct  towards  E.ssex :  whence  derived.  —  Convenience  of  the 
Time  for  Explanation.  —  Reason  for  believing  that  the  Explana- 
tion was  not  considered  unsatisfactory  to  Bacon's  Contempora- 
ries          392-442 

CHAPTER  III. 

A.  D.    1604.       .STAT.  44. 

A  new  Parliament  summoned.  —  Great  Que.stion  of  Privilege :  Sir 
Francis  Goodwin's  Case.  —  Conference  with  the  King. —  Com- 
mittee appointed  to  draw  up  Reasons  against  conferring  :  Bacon  to 
deliver  them  to  the  King. —  Committee  appointed  to  confer  with 


xvi  CONTENTS   OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME. 

the  Jud-^e.  :  Bacon  to  be  Spokesman.  -  Compromise  propose.l  and 
treed  to  -  State  of  the  Law  with  regard  to  Wardship  ru..'ey- 
Te    Monopolies,  etc.,  referred  to  ^  Committee.  -  Eesolut.onso^ 
Comlnittee  Sported  by  Bacon. -The  King's  Amt.ul-  th^^  Mat- 
tpr  of   Purvevor^.  —  Proceedings  with  regard   to  Union.  -Com 
xl  J  ner     cWn  and  Act  passed. -Dissatisfaction  of  the  Fung 
^hTs  Letter  to  the  Commons.  -  Conference  with  the  Lords  about 
a  BoSk    .ubHshed  by  a  Bishop  in  derogation  of  the  ^ower  Hons. 
-The  B  shop  rebnked  and  made  to  acknowledge  h,s  E.roi.- 1  lo- 
test  of  Convo  ation  against  Pretensions  of  the  House  of  Commons.  - 
Unsatisfactory  Conference  with  the  Lords  o^  W-^^^^"^^,  ^^^^ 
ures.- Another  Speech  from  the  Kmg.  -  Union  ^ct  passeJ  mh 
nnu^ual  Expedition  -  Interchange  of  Explanations^- Apology  of 
The  Commons. -Hint  from  the  Lords  that  a  Subsidy  would  be 
vLoZ.- Motion   received   doubtfully   and  with  n.wn    by  the 
Kino's  Desire.  -  Parliament  prorogued.  -Vacation  Woik^-Prep 
y  =  fnv  the  Meetino-  of   the  Commissioners  for  the  Union. - 
Sn     i        c^^  1  '  S:;:::^i..ioners.  -  Resolutions  ^i^e-ainto  form 
bv  Bacon   and  a  Preamble  prepared  :  The  most  humble  Certificate 
or  vSirn  ;f  the  Commissioners  of  England  and  Scotland,  authorized 

Ueat  of  an  Union  for  the  Weal  of  both  Realms^-  Unanun.t.^ 
the  Commissioners  (all  but  one)  and  prosperous  Di.patch  o      heir 
B:siness.  -Causes  of  Delay  in  submitting  their  Reconimenaations_^^^ 
to  Parliament 

CHAPTER  IV. 
A.  D.  1G05-1G07.     ^TAT.  45-46. 
The  Solicitor  General  (Fleming)   made  Chief  Baron^- Doderidge 
"tStlicitor.-Literval  of  --^^; -[:;- ^^I-^^^  tl 

;^:i^r.:?BS:r^-S  -  H  "rr^  - 

Leirnincr  "-Death  of  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  1  leas. - 
Su  d^a  bv  Sir  Francis  Gawdy,  Puisne  Judge  of  the  Kings 
bX- Second  Session  of  James's  first  Parliament. -The  vug 
S  ^  the  Discovery  of  a  Plot- Adjournment  ^  ^^-u.a  ^^  • 
-Altered  Temper  of  the  Commons. -Grant  of  T«o  f'"^  '<  ms 
agreed  upon. -Question  of  Union  postponed.  -  I emper  of  the 
Ho"  e  t  ard  the  King  and  Grant  of  Three  Suhsida.  and  Six  iif- 
"  Is  and  Tenths.  -  Rumor  of  Promotions  in  t-e  L-  "  LeU^r 

-X^B:;:;:r-^q^^^ 

-Letter  to  Sir  Thomas  Posthumus  Hobby. -  Memorial  to  Helten 


CONTEXTS  OF  THE  FIRST   VOLUME.  X\'U 

ham  erected  by  Bacon.  —  A  Letter  of  Bequest  to  Dr.  Playfere  to 
translate  the  "Advancement  of  Learning"  into  Latin.  —  Death 
of  Ph\yfere. — Parliament  meets  again,  28  November,  1606.  —  An- 
swer to  the  Petition  of  Grievances.  — Debates  on  the  Instrument  of 
Union.  —  Committee  appointed  to  prepare  for  Conference  with  the 
Lords. — Article  of  Commerce  disputed.  —  House  adjourned  from 
18  December  to  10  February.  —  Article  concerning  General  Natu- 
ralization opposed  by  Fuller.  —  Question  of  Law  concerning  the 
Post-nati. — Conference  with  the  Lords.  —  Determination  of  the 
Commons  to  ignore  the  Distinction  between  the  Cases  of  the  Ante- 
nati  and  the  Post-nati.  —  Motion  for  a  Perfect  Union  opposed  by 
Bacon.  —  The  King's  Speech  to  the  Commons  immediately  before 
the  Easter  Recess.  — Another  Speech  after  their  Reassembling. — 
Project  of  General  Naturalization  allowed  to  drop.  —  Bill  for  Ahol- 
ishing  Hostile  Laws. — Bacon  made  Solicitor  General  at  last. — 
End  of  Session.  —  Enlargement  and  final  Settlement  of  the  Plan  of 
the  "  Great  Instauration."  —  "Idols  of  the  Theatre." — "  Cogitata 
et  Visa."  —  A  Letter  to  Sir  Thomas  Bodley. — Dispute  about  the 
Jurisdiction  of  the  Provincial  Council  in  Wales.  —  Attempt  to  im- 
prove the  Constitution  of  Petty  Juries  by  getting  Gentlemen  to 
serve  on  them.  —  Proclamation  concerning  Jurors  .         .     472-515 


BOOK  IV. 

CHAPTER    I. 

A.  D.  1607-1609.     ^TAT.  47-49. 

Increase  of  Judges'  Salaries. — Fee  granted  to  Bacon.  —  Delays  in 
the  Exchequer.  — A  Letter  of  Expostulation  to  Sir  Vincent  Skin- 
ner. —  Conversion  of  Toby  Matthew  to  the  Romish  Church.  — 
Committed  to  Custody  on  his  Return  to  England.  —  Allowed  to 
visit  Bacon.  —  Letter  to  a  Friend,  about  Reading  and  giving  Judg- 
ment npon  his  Writings.  —  Matthew  refuses  to  take  the  Oath  and 
is  committed  to  the  Fleet  Prison.  —  Letter  to  Toby  Matthew.  — 
His  Banishment.  —  Relation  between  Bacon  and  Salisbury. — A 
Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  of  Courtesy  upon  a  New  Year's 
Tide.  —  Question  whether  the  Post-nati  were  naturalized  by  Law, 
argued  before  all  the  Judges  in  the  Exchequer,  and  settled  that  they 
were.  —  Bacon's  Views  as  to  the  Foreign  Policy  of  England.  —  His 
Fragment  on  "  The  True  Greatness  of  England."  —  Book  of  Pri 
vate  Memoranda.  —  General  Survey  of  the  Contents.  — Popish  Li- 
bels against  the  Memory  of  Queen  Eliz«beth.  —  Bacon's  Memorial 
of  her  Felicities.  —  To  Sir  George  Cary  in  France  upon  sending 
him  his  Writing  "  In  Felicem  Memoriam  Elizabeths."  —  Progress 
of  the  "  Great  Instauration."  —  A  Letter  to  Mr.  Matthew,  touching 
"  Instauratio  Magna."  —  Letters  to  the  same  on  "  In  Felicem 
b 


XVUl  CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLIBIE. 

Memoriam  Eliziibcthse."  —  Redargutio  PhUosophiarum.  —  A  Letter 
to  Mr.  Matthew,  upon  sending  to  him  Part  of  the  "  lustauratio 
Magna."  —  Bishop  Andrewes  and  Cardinal  BeUarmin.  —  A  Letter 
to  Bishop  Andrewes  upon  sending  his  Writing,  entitled  "  Cogitata 
et  Visa."  —  Bacon's  Book  on  the  Wisdom  of  the  Ancients. — 
Probable  motive  for  publishing  it  at  this  Time.  —  Modern  Views  of 
the  Meaning  of  the  old  Myths.  —  A  Letter  to  Mr.  Matthew,  upon 
sending  him  his  Book  "  De  Sapientia  Veterum."  —  Bacon  invites 
Isaac  Casaubon,  then  in  Paris,  to  a  Correspondence.  —  A  Letter  to 
Casaubon         516-570 


CHAPTER  IL 

A.  D.  1610.      ^TAT.  50. 

State  of  the  Exchequer.  —  Ordinary  Income  of  the  Crown  insufficient 
for  its  ordinary  Outlay.  —  Decrease  in  the  Value  of  Subsidies. — 
Death  of  the  Lord  Treasurer  and  Condition  of  the  Treasury.  — 
Salisbury  succeeds  to  the  Office.  —  His  first  Measures. — His  De- 
vice of  the  Great  Contract.  —  Sleeting  of  Parliament.  —  Confer- 
ence between  the  Houses.  —  Bacon's  Part.  —  Contribution  and 
Retribution. — What  the  King  demanded,  and  what  he  offered  in 
Exchange.  —  I'roceedings  of  the  Commons  against  Dr.  Cowell  for 
Unconstitutionid  Doctrines  published  in  a  Law  Dictionary.  —  Sup- 
pression of  the  Book  by  Proclamation.  —  Further  Conferences  con- 
cerning the  Great  Contract.  —  Whether  Wards  and  Tenures  were  to 
be  Part  of  the  Retribution.  —  Liberty  to  treat  granted. —  Offer 
made  by  the  Commons.  —  Dilatory  Proceeding  of  the  Government. 
—  Ajtparent  Impolicy  and  probable  Motive  of  it.  —  Pretended  Mis- 
understandings. —  Salisbury's  new  Version  of  the  Government 
Propo.sal.  —  Rejected. — Negotiations  broken  off. — Collection  of 
Grievances.  —  Impositions.  —  Message  from  the  King  to  the  Com- 
mons received  through  the  Council.  — Re.solved  not  to  receive  Mes- 
sages from  the  Council  as  Messages  from  the  King,  but  the  Reso- 
lution not  recorded.  —  The  King  warns  the  Commons  not  to  dispute 
his  Power  to  lay  Imy)Ositions  tipon  Merchandises  ;  though  willing  to 
put  a  limit  uj)on  the  Exercise  of  it.  —  Petition  of  Right  prcNcnted, 
graciously  received  and  granted. — A.ssassiiuition  of  Henri  IV. — 
Negotiation  of  the  Great  Contract  rcsum(!d.  —  Salisbury  urges  Ex- 
pedition.—  Tries  to  get  a  Grant  of  Sul)sidies  at  once,  but  without 
Success.  —  I)ebat(!  on  ImjKisitions.  —  Conference  concerning  the 
Contract.  —  Better  offer  from  the  King.  —  I'ctition  of  Grievances 
presented.  —  Bacon's  Speedi  to  tlie  King  in  behalf  of  tlie  Com- 
mons. —  The  King  offers  to  consent  to  an  Act  suspending  his  Power 
to  impose  for  the  Future  witliout  Consent  of  I'arliament. —  Dissat- 
isfaction of  the  Commons.  —  Grant  of  one  Subsidy  and  one  Fif- 
teenth. —  Great  Contract  resumed,  Terms  agreed  upon,  and  Memo- 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME.  xix 

rials  exchanged.  —  Answer  given  to  the  remaining  Grievances,  and 
Parliament  prorogued  till  October.  —  Terms  of  the  Contract,  as 
affecting  the  People,  considered 571-622 

CHAPTER  III. 

A.  D.  1610-1611.      iETAT.  50-51. 

Death  of  Bacon's  Mother.  —  Probable  Condition  of  her  latter  Years. 

—  Letter  to  Sir  Michael  Hickes.  —  Effect  of  Discussion  of  the  Great 
Contract  during  the  Recess. — Loss  and  Gain  variously  estimated  ; 
and  both  Parties  afraid  of  the  Result.  —  Parliament  meets  again. 

—  Conference  between  the  Houses,  by  Invitation  of  the  Lords.  — 
True  Copy  of  the  King's  Answer  to  the  Petition  of  Grievances 
sent  for  by  the  Commons.  —  A  resolute  and  speedy  Answer  whether 
they  would  proceed  with  the  Contract,  required  of  the  Commons 
by  the  King.  —  Debate  in  the  House  upon  the  Answer  to  be  sent. 

—  Provisions  without  which  the  Contract  would  not  be  safe  for  the 
People.  —  Terms  demanded  by  the  King.  —  Refusal  of  the  Com- 
mons to  proceed  upon  those  Terms.  —  Negotiations  broken  off.  — 
New  Device  for  obtaining  Supplies.  —  The  Commons  invited  to  a 
Conference. —  Salisbuiy's  Enumeration  of  Things  to  be  desired  by 
both  Houses.  — Message  of  Thanks  and  Explanation  resolved  upon 
but  no  Supply  voted. — Dissolution  of  the  Parliament. — Literary 
Occupations.  —  Relation  between  the  Crown  and  the  Commons. — 
Legal  Appointments.  —  Prospects  of  Promotion.  —  Letters  to  the 
King  in  suit  for  the  Attorney's  Place.  —  Letter  to  Salisbury.  —  New 
Year's  Letter  to  Sir  Michael  Hickes.  —  Death  of  Sir  Thomas  Sut- 
ton, Founder  of  the  Charterhouse.  —  Will  contested.  —  Advice  to 
the  King  touching  Sutton's  Estate 623-654 

CHAPTER  IV. 

A.  D.  1612-1613.     ^TAT.  52-53. 

Death  of  Salisbury.  —  Result  of  his  Financial  Administration. — 
Critical  Character  of  the  Occasion.  —  Bacon's  Thoughts  and  As- 
pirations.—  Letters  to  the  King  upon  Salisbury's  Death. —  Ditli- 
culty  of  filling  the  Place  of  Principal  Secretary  of  State.  —  Ba- 
con's Offer.  —  Secretaryship  left  vacant. — Treasurership  put  in 
Commission.  —  Bacon  a  Subcommissioner. —  Increa.sing  Import- 
ance of  Bacon  as  a  Councillor. — Letter  to  the  King  touching  his 
Estate.  —  New  Volume  of  Essays  published.  —  Intended  Dedica- 
tion to  the  Prince.  —  Death  of  the  Prince.  —  Remembrance  of  his 
Character  written  in  Latin  by  Bacon. — His  Contribution  to  the 
Festivities  on  Occasion  of  the  Marriage  of  the  Princess  Elizabeth.  — 
Question  of  calling  a  new  Parliament.  —  Bacon's  Views  and  Ad- 
vice.—  His  Letter  to  the  King,  with  Advice  how  to  proceed  witii  a 


XX  CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME. 

Parliament.  —  Advice  given  by  Sir  Heniy  Neville'  on  the  same 
Occasion.  —  Contrast  between  the  two.  —  Death  of  Sir  Thomas 
Fleming,  Chief  Justice  of  the  lung's  Bench.  —  Bacon  recommends 
Sir  H.  Hobart  for  his  Successor. — Attempt  to  introduce  Parlia- 
mentary Government  into  Ireland.  —  Creation  of  new  Boroughs. 
—  Election  of  Sir  John  Davies  as  Speaker.  —  Refusal  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Members  to  serve.  —  Reference  to  the  King.  —  Com- 
missioners appointed  to  investigate  Complaints.  —  Report  of  the 
Commissioners ;  and  orders  issued  thereupon.  —  The  seceding 
Members  consent  to  serve. —  Coke  made  Chief  Justice  of  the 
King's  Bench :  Hobart,  of  the  Common  Pleas  :  Bacon,  Attorney 
General :  Yelverton,  Solicitor  General.  —  Letter  of  Thanks  to  the 
King. — Dissolution  of  the  Marriage  between  the  Earl  of  Essex 
and  Lad}-  Frances  Howard.  —  Her  Marriage  to  Rochester,  created 
Earl  of  Somerset  for  the  Occasion.  —  Bacon's  Com]i]imentary  Of- 
fering of  tile  "  Masque  of  Flowers."  —  Probable  Motive  and  Occa- 
sion.—  Prevalence  of  Duels.  —  Proclamation  against  them  by  the 
King. — Bacon's  Recommendation.  —  His  Proposition  for  the  re- 
pressing of  Singular  Combats  or  Duels  ....       655-709 


FRANCIS  BACON  AND  HIS  TIMES. 


BOOK  I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

A.  D.  1560-1584.     ^TAT.  1-24. 

Francis  Bacon  was  born  among  great  events,  and 
brought  up  among  the  persons  who  had  to  deal  with 
them.  It  was  on  the  22d  of  January,  1560-1,  while 
the  young  Queen  of  Scotland,  a  two-months'  widow,  was 
rejecting  the  terms  of  reconciliation  with  England  which 
Elizabeth  proffered,  and  a  new  Pope'  in  the  Vatican  was 
preparing  to  offer  the  terms  of  reconciliation  with  Rome 
which  Elizabeth  rejected,  —  that  he  came  crying  into  the 
world,  the  youngest  son  of  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  Lord 
Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  and  Ann,  second  daughter  of 
Sir  Anthony  Cooke,  an  accomplished  lady,  sister-in-law 
to  the  then  Secretary  of  State,  Sir  William  Cecil,  There 
is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  he  was  regarded  as  a  wonder- 
ful child.  Of  the  first  sixteen  years  of  his  life  indeed 
nothing  is  known  that  distinguishes  him  from  a  hundred 
other  clever  and  well-disposed  boys.  He  was  born  at 
York  House,  his  father's  London  residence,  opening  into 
the  Strand  (not  yet  a  street)  on  the  north,  and  sloping 
pleasantly  to  the  Thames  (not  yet  built  out)  on  the 
south.  Sometimes  there,  and  sometimes  at  Gorhambury 
in  Hertfordshire,  he  passed  his  infancy  ;  the  youngest  of 


2  BOYHOOD.  [Book  I. 

eight  children  —  six  by  a  former  marriage.  In  April, 
1573,  he  went  to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  a  little 
earlier  than  was  then  usual,  being  twelve  years  and  three 
months  old.  There  he  resided  in  the  same  rooms  with 
his  brother  Anthony  (his  own  brother,  two  years  older 
than  himself),  studying  diligently,  until  Christmas,  1575  ; 
apparently  with  only  one  considerable  interval  (i.  e.  from 
the  latter  end  of  August,  1574,  to  the  beginning  of 
March),  when  the  University  was  dispersed  on  account 
of  the  plague.  On  the  27th  of  the  following  June  he 
and  his  brother  Anthony  were  admitted  "  de  societate 
magistrorum  "  of  Gray's  Inn  ;  that  is,  I  suppose,  ancie7its  ; 
a  privilege  to  which  they  were  entitled  as  the  sons  of  a 
judge.  If  we  add  that  during  his  residence  at  Cambridge 
he  was  rather  sickly,  as  aj)pears  by  the  frequent  pay- 
ments to  the  "  potigarie "  in  Whitgift's  accounts,  and 
that  his  talents  or  manners  had  already  been  remarked 
by  the  courtiers,  and  drawn  him  the  special  notice  of  the 
Queen  herself,  who  would  often  talk  with  him  and  play- 
fully call  him  the  young  Lord  Keeper,  we  have  all  that 
is  known  about  him  for  the  first  fifteen  years  and  nine 
months  of  his  life. 

Brief  however  and  barren  as  this  record  appears,  it 
may  help  us,  when  studied  by  the  light  which  his  sub- 
sequent history  throws  back  upon  it,  to  understand  in 
what  manner  and  in  what  degree  the  accidents  of  his 
birth  and  education  had  prepared  him  for  the  scene  on 
which  he  was  entering.  When  the  tempei-ament  is  quick 
and  sensitive,  the  desire  of  knowledge  strong,  and  the 
faculties  so  vigorous,  obedient,  and  equably  developed 
that  they  find  almost  all  things  easy,  the  mind  will  com- 
monly fasten  upon  the  first  object  of  interest  that  pre- 
sents itself,  with  the  ardor  of  a  first  love.  Now  these 
qualities,  which  so  eminently  distinguished  Bacon  as  a 
man,  must  have  been  in  him  from  a  boy  ;  and  if  wo  would 
know  the  source  of  those  great  impulses  which  began  to 


1560-84.]  EARLY  INFLUENCES.  3 

work  in  him  so  early  and  continued  to  govern  him  so 
long,  we  must  look  for  it  among  the  circumstances  by 
which  his  boyhood  was  surrounded.  What  his  mother 
tauo-ht  him  we  do  not  know  ;  but  we  know  that  she  was 
a  learned,  eloquent,  and  religious  woman,  full  of  affection 
and  puritanic  fervor,  deeply  interested  in  the  condition  of 
the  Church,  and  perfectly  believing  that  the  cause  of  the 
Nonconformists  was  the  whole  cause  of  Christ.  Such  a 
mother  could  not  but  endeavor  to  lead  her  child's  mind 
into  the  temple  where  her  own  treasure  was  laid  up, 
and  the  child's  mind,  so  led,  could  not  but  follow  thither 
with  awful  curiosity  and  impressions  not  to  be  effaced. 
Neither  do  we  know  what  his  father  taught  him ;  but  he 
appears  to  have  designed  him  for  the  service  of  the  State, 
and  we  need  not  doubt  that  the  son  of  Elizabeth's  Lord^ 
Keeper,  and  nephew  of  her  principal  Secretary,  early 
imbibed  a  reverence  for  the  mysteries  of  statesmanship, 
and  a  deep  sense  of  the  dignity,  responsibility,  and  im- 
portance of  the  statesman's  calling.  It  is  probable  that 
he  was  present  more  than  once,  when  old  enough  to 
observe  and  understand  such  matters,  at  the  opening 
of  Parliament,  and  heard  his  father,  standing  at  the 
Queen's  side,  declare  to  the  assembled  Lords  and  Com- 
mons the  causes  of  their  meeting.  It  is  certain  that  he 
was  more  than  once  in  the  immediate  presence  of  the 
Queen  herself,  smiled  on  by  the  countenance  which  was 
looked  up  to  by  all  the  young  and  all  the  old  around 
him  with  love  and  fear  and  reverence.  Everything  that 
he  saw  and  heard  ;  the  alarms,  the  hopes,  the  triumphs 
of  the  time ;  ^  the  magnitude  of  the  interests  which  de- 
pended upon  her  government ;  the  high  flow  of  loyalty 
which  buoyed  her  up  and  bore  her  forward  ;  the  impos- 
ing character  of  her  council,  a  character  which  still 
stands  out  distinctly  eminent  at  the  distance  of  nearly 

1  He  was  nine  j-ears  old  when  the  Bull  of  Excommunication  was  published 
and  the  Rebellion  in  the  North  broke  out. 


4  RESIDENCE  AT  CAMBRIDGE.  [Book  I. 

three  centuries  :  must  Lave  coutributed  to  excite  in  the 
boy's  heart  a  devotion  for  her  person  and  her  cause,     bo 
situated,  it  must  have  been  as  difficult  for  a  ^^ung  and 
susceptible  imagination  not  to  aspire  after  civil  dignities 
as  for  a  boy  bred  in   camps  not  to  long  to  be  a  soldier. 
But  the  time  for  these  was  not  yet  come.     For  the  pres- 
ent his  field  of  ambition  was  still  in  the  school-room 
and  library  ;  where  perhaps  from  the  delicacy  of  his  con- 
stitution he  was  more  at  home  than  in  the  playground. 
His  career  there  was  victorious ;  new  prospects  of  bound- 
less  extent  opening  on  every   side  ;  till  at  length    ]ust 
about  the  age  at  which  an  intellect  of  quick  growth  be- 
gins to  be  conscious  of  original  power,  he  ^as  sent  to 
?he  University,  where  he  hoped  to  learn  all  that  men 
knew      By  the  time  however  that  he  had  gone  through 
'theu^ual  course  and  heard  what  the  various  professors 
had  to  say,  he  was  conscious  of  a  disappointment.     It 
seemed  that  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century 
men  neither  knew  nor  aspired  to  know  more  than  was  to 
be  learned  from  Aristotle  ;  a  strange  thing  at  any  time  ; 
more  strange   than   ever  just  then,  when   the   heavens 
themselves  seemed  to  be  taking  up  the  argument  on  their 
own  behalf,  and  by  suddenly  lighting  up  witlun  the  very 
region  of  the  Unchangeable  and  Incorruptible,  and  pres- 
enUy  extinguishing,  a  new  fixed  star  as  byjgl^    -  J^^P - 
ter  (the  new  star  in  Cassiopeia  shone  with  fall  lustie 
on  Bacon's  freshmanship)  to  be  protesting  by -signs  and 
wonders  against  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  Aristotelian 
phUosophy      It  was  then  that  a  thought  struck  him  the 
dae  of  wLh  deserves  to  be  recorded,  not  for  ^y thing 
extraordinary  in  the  thought  itself,  which  luul  probably 
oc    irred  to  others  before  him,  but  for  its  influence  upon 
h    Xr-life.     If  our  study  of  nature  be  thus  barren,  he 
thouc dit,  our  method   of  study  must  be   wrong  :    might 
.  t  Abetter  metliod  be  found  ?    The  suggestion  was  sun- 
pie  and  obvious.     The  singularity   was  in  the   way  he 


1560-84.]  EARLY  ASPIRATIONS.  5 

took  hold  of  it.  With  most  men  such  a  thought  would 
have  come  and  gone  in  a  passing  regret ;  a  few  might 
have  matured  it  into  a  wish;  some  into  a  vague  project ; 
one  or  two  might  perhaps  have  followed  it  out  so  far  as 
to  attain  a  distinct  conception  of  the  better  method,  and 
hazard  a  distant  indication  of  the  direction  in  which  it  lay. 
But  in  him  the  gift  of  seeing  in  prophetic  vision  what 
might  be  and  ouglit  to  be  was  united  with  the  practical 
talent  of  devising  means  and  handling  minute  details. 
He  could  at  once  imagine  like  a  poet  and  execute  like  a 
clerk  of  the  works.  Upon  the  conviction  This  may  be 
done,  followed  at  once  the  question  Hotv  may  it  be  done  ? 
Upon  that  question  answered,  followed  the  resolution  to 
try  and  do  it. 

Of  the  degrees  by  which  the  suggestion  ripened  into  a 
project,  the  project  into  an  undertaking,  and  the  under- 
taking unfolded  itself  into  distinct  proportions  and  the 
full  grandeur  of  its  total  dimensions,  I  can  say  nothing. 
But  that  the  thought  first  occurred  to  him  during  his 
residence  at  Cambridge,  therefore  before  he  had  com- 
pleted his  fifteenth  year,  we  know  upon  the  best  author- 
ity—  his  own  statement  to  Dr.  Rawley.  I  believe  it 
ought  to  be  regai'ded  as  the  most  important  event  of  his 
life  ;  the  event  which  had  a  greater  influence  than  any 
other  upon  his  character  and  future  course.  From  that 
moment  there  was  awakened  within  his  breast  the  ap- 
petite which  cannot  be  satiated,  and  the  passion  which 
cannot  commit  excess.  From  that  moment  he  had  a  vo- 
cation which  employed  and  stimulated  all  the  energies  of 
his  mind,  gave  a  value  to  every  vacant  interval  of  time, 
an  interest  and  significance  to  every  random  thought  and 
casual  accession  of  knowledge  ;  an  object  to  live  for  as 
wide  as  humanity,  as  immortal  as  the  human  race  ;  an 
idea  to  live  in  vast  and  lofty  enough  to  fill  the  soul  for- 
ever with  religious  and  heroic  aspirations.  From  that 
moment,  though  still  subject  to  interruptions,  disappoint- 


6  THREE  LEADING  OBJECTS  OF  INTEREST.  [Book  I. 

ments,  errors,  and  regi'ets,  he  could  never  be  without 
either  work  or  hope  or  consolation.  ^ 

So  much  with  regard  to  the  condition  of  his  mnid  at 
this  period  we  may  I  think  reasonably  assume,  without 
trespassing  upon  the  province  of  the  novelist  Such  a 
mind  as  we  know  from  after  experience  that  Bacon  pos- 
sessed, could  not  have  grown  up  among  such  circum- 
stances without  receiving  impi^pssions  and  impulses  ot 
this  kind.  He  could  not  have  been  bred  under  such  a 
mother  without  imbibing  some  portion  of  her  zeal  in  the 
cause  of  the  reformed  religion  ;  he  could  not  have  been 
educated  in  the  house  of  such  a  father,  surrounded  by 
such  a  court,  in  the  middle  of  such  agitatmiis,  without 

feeling  loyal  aspirations  for  the  —  ^^V^l^Tt'the 
country  ;  he  could  not  have  entertained  the  idea  that  the 
fortunes  of  the  human  race  might  by  a  better  application 
of  human  industry  be  redeemed  and  put  into  a  course  of 
continual  improvement,  without  conceiving  an  eager  de- 
sire to  see  the  process  begun. 

Assuming  then  that  a  deep  interest  in  these  three  great 
causes- tlie  cause  of  reformed  religion,  of  his  native 
country,  of  the  human  race  through  all  their  generations 
-was  thus  early  implanted  in  that  vigorous  and  virgin 
soil,  we  must  leave  it  to  straggle  up  as  it  may  according 
to  the  accidents  of  time  and  weather.  Many  a  bad  season 
it  will  meet  with  ;  many  a  noble  promise  will  be  bioken. 

Sicpius  ilium 
Expcctata  ?eges  vanis  eludet  aristis. 

It  is  the  universal  error  of  hope  and  youth  to  overlook 
i,npe,liraent8  and  en.brace  more  than  can  bo  acco,,,. 
Tished,  and  to  the  latt.r  years  of  all  great  undertakings 
L  left  the  n,elan.holy  task  of  seleelin,  tron,  among  many 
eherished  purposes  those  whirl,  with  least  n>.,ury  to  th, 
1  :;:  design  may  be  al.andone.l.  But  tlKu.gh  ,n  he  h^ 
torv  of  soeiety  an  abandon,.!  purpose  may  r.ghtly  go  to, 
„othing,itisn„tsoin.l„l,i.t".y"f—     A„ s  n,- 


1500-84.]  PLANS  AND  HOPES.  7 

tentions,  so  long  as  they  deserve  the  name  of  intentions, 
mix  with  his  views,  affect  his  actions,  and  are  so  much 
a  part  of  himself  that  unless  we  take  them  into  the  ac- 
count we  can  never  understand  the  real  conditions  of  the 
problem  which  his  life  presents  to  him  for  solution.  Of 
Bacon's  life  at  any  rate  I  am  persuaded  that  no  man  will 
ever  form  a  correct  idea,  unless  he  bear  in  mind  that 
from  very  e.-irly  youth  his  heart  was  divided  between 
these  three  objects,  distinct  but  not  discordant ;  and  that 
though  the  last  and  in  our  eyes  the  greatest  was  his  favor- 
ite and  his  own,  the  other  two  never  lost  their  hold  upon 
his  affections.  Not  until  he  felt  his  years  huddling  and 
hurrying  to  their  close  did  he  consent  to  abandon  the  hope 
of  doing  something  for  them  all  ;  nor  indeed  is  it  easy 
to  find  any  period  of  his  life  in  which  some  fortunate 
turn  of  affairs  might  not  have  enabled  him  to  fulfill  it. 
But  these  perplexing  necessities  are  as  yet  far  away, 
beyond  the  horizon.  For  the  present  we  must  picture 
him  as  in  the  season  of  victorious  and  all-embracing  hope, 
dreaming  on  things  to  come,  and  rehearsing  his  life  to 
liimseli  in  that  imaginary  theatre  where  all  things  go 
right;  for  such  was  his  case  when  —  a  hopeful,  sensitive, 
bashful,  amiable  boy,  wise  and  well-informed  for  his  age, 
and  glowing  with  noble  aspirations  —  he  put  forth  into 
the  world  w^tli  happy  auspices  in  his  sixteentli  year. 

Sir  Nicholas  Bacon  could  not  be  unaware  of  his  favorite 
son's  rare  qualifications  for  civil  employment.  He  knew, 
by  seventeen  years'  experience  of  Elizabeth's  arduous, 
anxious,  and  prosperous  government,  how  deeply  the  State 
stood  in  need  of  the  best  abilities  it  could  connnand. 
Perhaps  he  regretted  to  see  such  a  mind  turning  its  ener- 
gies to  objects  which  were  really  of  less  immediate  ur- 
gency, and  probably  seemed  to  him  of  less  ultimate  im- 
portance (for  in  the  eyes  of  an  old  privy  councillor  the 
King  of  Spain  might  well  appear  to  be  a  more  dangerous 


8  STUDIES  IS  MISGOVEENMENT.  [Book  I. 

enemy  of  the  human  race  than  Aristotle)  ;  an,l  being 
deeply  impressed  with  the  perilous  condu.on  nr  which 
Endand  and  therefore  the  Protestant  rebgion  -  tAe  re- 
Sn    as  he  would  have  called  it  -  then  stood,  wished 
lTd,w  him  away  from  the  pursuit  ot^badows  by  placing 
,,im  face  to  face  with  the  reahties  of  life^    At  that  mo 
nieut  a  favorable  opportunity  presented  ^f-J'/^- 
land  showed  an  example  of  the  splendid     ftec  s  of  sue 
cessful  government  dealing  with  difE«ilt  ^'^^^^ 
showed tm  example  not  less  striking  of  the  fatal  lesults 
o    «i.government,  in  circumstances  not  otUervvrse  mudi 
nnlike!    Both  countries  possessed  great  natural  advan- 
"ts :  in  both  the  materials  of  trouble  abounded,  arismg 
intoth  from  the  same  cause  -  divisions  in  re  igiou.    Yet 
:  England  all  functions  of  the  State  proceeded  in  heal       . 
v^<,orous  and  united  action,  while  m  Fiance  everything 
:  !s Tmi  ery  and  disorder,  -  "  the  olBces  of  justice  so  d, 
Z     easury  wasted,  the  people  polled,  the  country  de- 
ulyed  ; "  ■  imd  all  through  a  few  years  of  corrupt,  violent 
or/eeble  administration.     Just  then  Sir  A™-  P^ 
wasgoing  out  as  ambassador  to  France,  and  Sir  Nicholas 
re  olved  that  his  son,  who  had  seen  at  home  tlie  efficacy 
of  a  good  regimen  in  keeping  the  body  politic  sound, 
l,nld  go  with  him,  and  see  the  symptoms  of  disease  pro- 

""Si^  k-r lir^t tiSL^"  :"-5th  of  September 
1576  and  succeeded  Dr.  Dale  as  ambassador  in  Fiance 
•the  following  February.     With  the  particulars  of  hi 
em  Wmentwe  need  not  trouble  ours.dves,  as  it  is  not 

"X  that  Francis,  though  he  is  said  to  have  been  on  e 

^  .  ,vitl,  •.  messa-c  to  the.  (ineen,  had  uuieli  to  do 

::"h  tC        lu't  tlie  gJ^eral  aspect  of  aft'airs  on  the  con- 

n    of  Europe  would  naturally  engage  the  attention  of 

!;  i,;tellig..nt  'bov,  and  the  house  of  the  English  ambas- 
,  ;,,„„  „,.  -»c  P,,«»<  .*.  ./  ».,...,.....  ( Rv  '"•■ '  "■ 

Bacon). 


1560-84.]  RESIDENCE  IN"  FRANCE.  9 

sador  in  France  would  give  him  the  best  opportunities  of 
understanding  the  movements  of  the  different  powers, 
and  their  bearing  upon  the  interests  of  his  own  country. 
The  period  of  his  residence  there  was  full  of  great  mat- 
ters. It  included  the  short,  aspiring,  and  dangerous  ca- 
reer of  Don  Jolin  of  Austria;  his  "perpetual  edict  of 
peace  "  pretended  and  broken  ;  his  victory  at  Gemblours  ; 
his  practices  by  secret  help  from  the  Pope  to  nmrry  the 
Queen  of  Scots  and  invade  England  ;  his  death  "  in  no 
ill  season."  It  included  the  treaty  of  mutual  assistance 
between  England  and  the  states  of  Holland  ;  the  inef- 
fectual effort  made  by  England,  France,  and  Austria  to 
compose  the  troubles  of  the  Netherlands ;  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  the  sixth  civil  war  in  France  ;  the  open- 
ing of  the  negotiation  for  a  marriage  between  Elizabeth 
and  the  Duke  of  Anjou  ;  the  preparation  and  accidental 
diversion  of  a  design  for  invading  Ireland,  under  Sebas- 
tian King  of  Portugal,  and  Thomas  Stukley  the  English 
fugitive,  supported  by  the  Pope  and  the  King  of  Spain. 
And  in  the  middle  of  these  alarms  and  great  disturbances, 
the  business  of  the  mission  to  which  he  was  attached 
took  him  in  the  wake  of  the  Court  through  several  of  the 
French  provinces,  —  from  Paris  to  Blois,  from  Blois  to 
Tours,  from  Tours  to  Poitiers,  where  in  the  autumn  of 
1577  he  resided  for  three  months.  So  that  he  had  ex- 
cellent opportunities  of  studying  foreign  policy.  Of  the 
manner  in  which  he  spent  his  time,  however,  we  have  no 
information,  except  what  we  may  gather  from  a  few  casual 
allusions  dropped  by  himself  in  his  later  life,  which  only 
show  that  his  observation  was  active  and  his  memory  re- 
tentive ;  and  something,  perhaps,  from  the  inscription  on 
a  miniature  painted  by  Hilliard,  in  1578,  which  indicates 
the  impression  made  by  his  conversation  upon  those  who 
heard  it.  There  may  be  seen  his  face  as  it  was  in  his 
eighteenth  year,  and  round  it  may  be  read  the  significant 
words  —  the  natural  ejaculation,  we  may  presume,  of  the 


JO  DEATH   OF  HIS  FATHER.  [^^^  I- 

artist's  own  emotion  -  >S'z  tahda  daretur  digna,  animum 
mallem  :  if  one  could  but  paint  bis  mmd  ! 

He  was  still  at  Paris,  and  was  already  w.sliing  to  be 
at  home  again,  when  about  the  17th  February,  lo<8-9 
from  one  of  those  vague  presentiments  of  evil  which  make 
no  impression  upon  the   waking  judgment  but  so  often 
govern  the  dream,  he  dreamed  that  his  father  s  house 
in  the  country  was  plastered  all  over  with  black  mortau 
And  certain  it  was  that  about  that  tune  his  father,  hav- 
ing accidentally   fallen  asleep    at  an    open  wmdow  dur- 
ing  the    great   thaw  which  followed  a  great  snow,  was 
sefzed  witi  a  sudden  and  fatal  illness  of  which  he  died 
in  a  few  days.     It  was  a  critical   conjuncture  for  l^rau- 
cis      The  question  whether  he  was  to  be  an  independent 
or  a  dependent  man,  -  a  man  who  might  "  live  to  study, 
or  a  man  who  must  "  study  to  live,"  -  was  then  trem- 
bling in  the  balance;  and  this  accident  turne.Uhe  scale 
against  him.     Sir  Nicholas,  having  provided  for  the  rest 
'of  his   sons,  had    at  that  time  (so  Dr.  Kawley  was   in- 
formed) laid  by  a  considerable   sum  of  money  which  he 
meant  to   employ  in    purchasing   an  estate    or  Era.ic.s. 
His  sudden  death  prevented  the  purchase,  and  lett  Han- 
ds with  only  a  fifth  part  of  the  fortune  intended  for  him. 
An    accident  of    great    moment;  which    perplexed    the 
problem  of  his  life  by  a  new  and  most  inconvenient  con- 
dition.    Like  a  general  who  after  laying  out  the  design 
of  his  campaign,  su.ldenly  finds  his  commissariat  fail,  he 
must  now  readjust  his  plans,  combining  with  them  some 
kind  of  employment  whicli  will  pay      '^'-^  -^  !^«  '"  ^ 
for  it,  however,  and  the  less  time  lost  the  bette^-.     The 
law  was  his  most  obvious  and  on  many  accounts  his  inos 
promising   resource;    and    being  alrea.ly   an    ancient   ot 
Gray's  Inn,  he  sat  down  at  once  to  make  himself  a  work- 
ing lawyer.     If  the  accidents  should  prove  favorable  he 
niht  even  find  an  advantage  in  it;  if  not,  he  would  at 
^ast  find  a  subsistence.     He  left  Paris  for  England  on 


15G0-84.]  APPLICATION  FOR  EMPLOYMENT.  11 

the  20t1i  of  March,  1578-0,  bearing  a  dispatch  from  Sir 
Amias  Paulefc  to  the  Queen,  in  which  he  was  mentioned 
as  "  of  great  hope,  endued  with  many  good  and  singular 
parts,"  and  one  who,  "  if  God  gave  him  life,  would  prove 
a  very  able  and  sufficient  subject  to  do  her  Highness 
good  and  acceptable  service."  Soon  after  (probably  in 
Trinity  Term,  but  I  cannot  be  sure)  he  commenced  his 
regular  career  as  a  student  at  law  ;  and  for  the  next 
year,  during  which  we  have  no  further  news  of  him,  we 
may  suppose  him  to  be  sufficiently  occupied  with  his 
new  studies  ;  as  wishing  to  push  himself  on  with  all 
speed,  that  he  may  be  the  sooner  ripe  for  any  worthier 
or  more  congenial  employment  that  may  offer. 

His  intention  was  to  study  the  common  law  as  his  pro- 
fession ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  his  wish  and  hope 
to  obtain  some  employment  in  it  which  should  make  him 
independent  of  ordinary  practice  at  the  Bar.  What  the 
particular  employment  was  for  which  he  hoped  I  cannot 
say  ;  something  probably  connected  with  the  service  of 
the  Crown,  to  which  the  memory  of  his  father,  an  old 
and  valued  servant  prematurely  lost,  his  near  relation- 
ship to  the  Lord  Ti-easurer,  and  the  personal  notice  which 
he  had  himself  i-eceived  from  the  Queen,  would  natu- 
rally lead  him  to  look.  From  allusions  in  letters  dated 
16th  September  and  18th  October,  1580,  I  gather  that  he 
made  some  overture  to  Burghley  with  tjiis  view ;  that 
Burghley  recommended  it  to  the  Queen  ;  that  the  Queen, 
who,  though  slow  to  bestow  favors,  was  careful  always  to 
encourage  hopes,  entertained  the  motion  graciously,  and 
returned  a  favorable  answer ;  and  that  it  was  for  some 
employment  requiring  a  knowledge  of  the  common  law. 
After  this,  we  hear  no  more  of  liim  till  the  15th  of  April, 
1582.  But  as  we  find  that  he  was  then  residing  as  be- 
fore, in  Gray's  Inn,  where  he  was  admitted  Utter  Bar- 
rister on  the  27th  of  June  following,  we  may  suppose 
that  he  had  been  going  on  quietly  with  his  legal  studies. 


12  OCCUPATIOS   AT  GKAY'S  INN.  IB<»"  '• 

While  his  interest  in  foreign  affairs  would  naturally  be 
kept  up  by  what  he  heard  from  his  brother,  who  was 
travelling  and  gathering  political  intelligence  on  the  Con- 
tinent; and  from  one  of  whose  Enghsh  correspondents 
(Nicholas  Faunt,  a  secretary   of    Walsmgham  s   arrd   a 
good  Puritan)  we  deriye  what  little  .nformat.on  we  have 
lith  regard  to  Francis's  proceedings  from  tus  trn.e   o 
the  autumn  of  1584.     From  his  letters  we  learn  htt  e 
more  than  that  he  remained  studying  at   Gray  s  Inn, 
occasionally  visiting  his  mother  at  Gorhambury,  or  gorng 
with  her  to  hear  Travers  lecture  at   the  Temple,  and 
occasionally  appearing  at  the  Con,^.     What  particular 
studies  engaged  hhn  we  are  not  told  ;  bu    when  we  hear 
(August  6th,  1583)  that  he  used  then  to  be  "seen  in  h,s 
outward  barrister's  habit  abroad  in  the  c.t5^  and  therefo^ 
must  needs  do  well;  "  and  when  we  remember  that  (if  h  s 
own  report  forty  years  after  may  be  depended  on)  Is 
first  essay  on  the  Instauration  of  Philosophy,  which  he 
called  "Temporis  Partus  Maximus,"  was  composed  about 
this  time,  we  need  not  doubt  that  between  Law  and  Phi- 
losophy he  found  enough  to  do  ;  nor  need  we  seek  so  far 
as  Mr.  Faunt  does  for  his  motive  in  secluding  himself  on 
the  following  occasion  :  — 

«I  w.as  vosicrday"    (says  he,  writing  on  the  la.t  of   May, 
15R3)  "at  Gray's  Inn  upon  occasion,  when  I  wonl.l  "»'   -''    '^ 
heretofore  I  have  not  when  I  p^.ssed  that  way)  to  call  in,  and 
L.  whether  y<a,r  brother  will  write  unto  you  by  n,y  nicain, 
conveyance,  or  whether  he  hear  more  lately  than  myself  ot  yoir 
Z'  as  0,  e  th.at  is  desirous  to  procure  you  the  niost  cent  ,  t- 
enri  may  from  your  best  friends  here,  as  I  shotdd  be  glad  to 
e  the  like  courtesy  used  in  n,y  behalf  when      am,  as  yon  are 
'ow  Ibsent  and  far  distant  from  them,     lint  I  was  answered 
byhis   c  '^mt,  that  he  was  not  at  lei.snrc  to  speak  will,  me,  and 
the!   ore  you  must  excuse  me  If  I  cannot  tel    you  how  yonr 
;Lr  and  other  frlen.U  do  at  this  present;  on  y  I  perceive  by 
vonr  brothel's  boy  that  he  was  but  newly  come  troni  St.  Allun  s, 
^Crc  I  t!L  it  Jy  Lady  now  Is I  well.     I  w:ts  asked  where 


1580-84.]         ANXIOUS  FOR  HIS  BROTHER'S  RETURN.  13 

you  were  aud  what  I  heard  lately  from  you,  but  I  could  say  lit- 
tle that  he  knew  not,  neither  was  I  so  simple  to  say  all  to  a  boy 
at  the  door,  his  master  being  within.  This  strangeness  which 
hath  at  other  times  been  used  towards  me  by  your  brother,  hath 
made  me  sometimes  to  doubt  that  he  greatly  mistaketh  me,  for 
I  do  these  offices  both  towards  you  aud  him  upon  no  base  re- 
spect or  for  insinuation,  but  only  of  good  affection  to  either  for 
the  best  considerations,  and  yet,  in  truth,  the  rather  unto  him  by 
reason  of  the  good  acceptation  it  hath  pleased  you  to  yield  of 
the  poor  acquaintance  and  mutual  amity  that  is  between  us,  and 
I  hope  shall  not  be  lessened  hereafter :  whereof  thus  much  to 
yourself  alone,  which  I  trust  you  shall  only  take  knowledge  of, 
and  in  your  discretion  use  it  accordingly." 

Francis  seems  to  have  been  as  anxious  as  any  one  for 
his  brother's  return  at  the  end  of  his  three  years. 

"  Yet  by  the  way,  in  a  word  or  two,  he  hath  showed  his  earn- 
est desire  to  have  you  return  at  your  time  limited  by  your  li- 
cense, wishing  me  to  be  a  persuader  thereof,  and  saying  that 
he  marvelled  how  those  that  keep  abroad  more  than  that  time 
could  live  to  their  contentment,  seeing  that  himself  was  more 
than  weary  of  his  being  forth,  and  that  the  home  life  is  to  be 
thought  upon  as  of  the  end  in  due  season." —  (May  8th,  15''^2.) 

And  again  (May  6th,  1583)  — 

"  Whensoever  we  talk  but  three  words  together,  two  and  a 
balf  of  them  contain  a  most  hearty  wish  for  your  speedy  return." 


CHAPTER   11. 

A.  D.  1584-1586.     ^TAT.  21-26. 

The  occasion  upon  which  Bacon  commenced  what  may 
be  called  his  public  life  deserves  particular  notice,  as  well 
fitted  to  feed  and  stimulate  that  interest  in  questions  of 
Church  and  State  which  I  suppose  to  have  been  excited 
in  him  by  the  accidents  of  his  boyhood  and  encouraged 
by  his  residence  in  France. 

In  November,  1584,  a  new  Parliament  was  called,  un- 
der circumstances  of  a  highly  agitating  character.  The 
Bull  of  Excommunication  which  had  been  issued  against 
Elizabeth  in  1560  having  failed  to  frighten  England  out 
of  its  Protestantism,  and  the  experience  of  the  next 
twelve  years  having  shown  that,  so  long  as  she  lived, 
there  was  little  chance  of  overthrowing  the  reformed 
religion  by  open  methods,  the  hopes  of  the  Catholic  world 
turned  thenceforward  towards  her  death  ;  in  the  event  of 
which  (no  provision  having  been  made  for  the  succession) 
Mary  of  Scotland  would  have  claimed  the  crown;  her 
claim  would  have  been  supported  by  the  Pope,  by  Spam, 
by  a  considerable  party  in  Scotland,  and  (what  was  per- 
haps of  still  more  importance)  by  the  natural  right  of 
inheritance ;  and  thereupon  would  probably  have  ensued 
either  the  reestablishment  of  the  Catholic  religion  in 
PLngland,  or  a  civil  war,  or  both.  Such  an  apprehension 
was  sufficient  of  itself  to  unite  all  Protestants  in  emulous 
devotion  to  Elizabi^th  ;  and  this  devotion  was  warmed 
into  enthusiasm  by  the  detection  of  several  secret  cf)n- 
apiracies  against  hw  lif*',  together  with  her  own  maguan- 


1584-86.]  PARLIAMENT   OF   1584.  15 

imous  contempt  for  personal  danger.  Upon  this  point, 
therefore,  all  varieties  of  Protestant  opinion  met.  Who- 
ever regarded  the  Reformed  Church  as  God's  cause ; 
whoerer  believed  the  anointed  head  to  be  under  God's 
especial  protection  ;  whoever  abhorred  murder  and  treach- 
ery ;  whoever  feared  civil  war  ;  whoever  valued  national 
independence  ;  whoever  felt  his  blood  run  warmer  at  the 
sight  of  a  woman  who  in  the  face  of  perils  so  secret  and 
imminent  could  exhibit  all  majesty  and  no  fear,  —  all  fell 
in  alike  with  the  popular  sentiment  of  the  time,  and 
swelled  the  flood  of  loyalty.^  During  the  twelve  months 
immediately  preceding,  three  several  plots  for  the  assas- 
sination of  Elizabeth  had  been  detected;  plots  under- 
taken indeed  by  individuals,  but  all  certainly  Popish, 
and  all  supposed  to  be  countenanced  by  the  Popish 
powers,  and  to  have  in  view  the  placing  of  a  Popish 
queen  on  the  throne.  Hereupon  a  voluntary  association 
had  been  entered  into  by  subjects  of  all  degrees,^  the 
members  of  which  bound  themselves  to  defend  the  Queen 
against  all  her  enemies,  foreign  or  domestic  ;  to  prosecute 
to  the  death  any  person  by  whom  or  for  whom  violence 
should  be  offered  to  her  life,  and  to  hold  such  person  for- 
ever incapable  of  the  crown.  This  was  in  October,  1584. 
On  the  23d  of  November,  in  the  midst  of  the  general 
fervor  and  alarm,  the  Houses  met ;  and  Francis  Bacon, 
now  in  his  twenty-fifth  year,  took  his  seat  for  Melcombe, 
in  Dorsetshire. 3  The  causes  of  their  meeting  were  ex- 
plained by  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  then  Vice-Chamber- 
lain, with  unprecedented  frankness.  ''  His  speech,"  says 
Fleetwood,  Recoi-der  of  London,  writing  to  Burghle}^ 
"  tended  to  particularities  and  special  actions,  and  con- 

1  The  assassination  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  July  9,  1584,  doubtless  had  a 
strong:  effect  upon  the  popular  mind. 

2  Burghley  to  Lord  Cobhain,  October  27,  1584:   Lodge,  vol.  ii.,  p.  2.50. 

3  He  had  been  also  returned  for  Gatton,  by  the  interest  of  Burghley,  to 
whom,  as  Master  of  the  Wards,  the  nomination,  during  the  minority  of  the  one 
constituent,  at  tiiat  time  belonged.     F.llis's  Letters,  3d  series,  vol.  iv.,  p.  52. 


ie  STRENGTH  OF  THE  OPPOSITION.  [Book  I. 

eluded  upon  tlie  Queen's  Higlmess's  safety       Before  this 
time  I  never  heard  in  Parliament  the  like  things  ut- 
tered; and  especially  the  things  contained  in  tbe^^^^^^^^^ 
speech      They  were  magnalia  regni.       Ot  the  debates 
which  followed  we  have  no  record  ;  but  they  ended  ni  the 
sanction    of  the    "association"    by   Parliament,  m    the 
creation  of  a  new  tribunal  for  the  trial  ot  conspirators 
against  the  Queen's  life,  and  the  enactment  of  newlasvs 
more  severe  than  ever,  against  priests  and  Jesuits.     With 
such  antecedents  therefore,  such  an  entrance,  and  such  a 
conclusion,  we  may  presume  ''^-'  '^^J'^' ^'^'ll^l''^ 
that  the  first  breath  of  Bacon's  pubhc  life  was  drawn  m 
a  very  contagious  atmosphere  of  loyalty  and  anti-popery. 
But  if  the   debates  on  this  question  were  impressive 

and  exciting  from  the  ardor  and  ---^'^^^  ^^Zth' 
rence,-a  unanimity   which  was  proved   and  sti-ength- 
ened  rather  than  disturbed  by  the   single  opposition  o 
Dr    Parry,  whose  vehement  protest   against  the  Jesuit 
Bill  was  U-eated   as  a  contempt  of  the   House,  and  who 
was  himself  apprehended  and  e^cuted  not  long  af ter  for 
adesi-nto   assassinate  the  Queen,  -  there  were   others 
which^nust  have  been  not  less  so  from  the  very  opposite 
cause      Upon  a  question  no   less  vital   than  the  goyern- 
nient  of  the  Church  and   the  proceedings  of  the  bishops, 
a  majority,  and  apparently  a  very  considerable  majority, 
of    the  Lower    House   was  in    direct   opposition   to  the 
Oueen      And  this  difference  was  the  more   formidable, 
becaus"e  it  arose  out  of  no  accidental  or  transitoi-y  occa- 
sion, but  had  its  root  in   the  very  nature   ot  1  rotestant- 
ism,  and  went  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  the  nation. 
I  If  the  will  of  God  was  not  confided   exclusively  to  1  ope 
;  or  priest,  but   revealed   in  the  Scriptures   to   .d     men,  it 
\  was  the  duty  of   all   men  to   seek  it  there       I  hose  who 
Z  that   purpose   searched    and    studied  the  bcriptm-es 
:ustconito^heirown    conclusions.     Those  conclusions 
must  be  binding  upon  their  consciences,  not  only  to  hold 


1584-80.]  '     ORTIIODOXIOLATRY.  17 

but  to  preach.  It  was  God's  cause  and  work.  To  tell 
men  to  seek,  and  yet  to  prescribe  limits  to  what  they 
should  find,  was  to  set  human  authority  above  the 
Word, — the  very  thing  against  which  Protestantism 
protested.  Now  the  first  Reformers,  being  themselves 
Protestants  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  —  that  is  to 
say,  dissenters  on  grounds  of  conscience  from  a  creed 
enjoined  by  authority, — understood  this  part  of  the  fact, 
and  left  room  enough  within  the  pale  of  the  establish- 
ment for  all  the  varieties  of  opinion  which  their  own  time 
was  likely  to  breed.  Their  successors  inherited  their 
work,  but  not  their  policy.  They  accepted  the  creed  of 
the  first  Protestants,  but  would  have  no  more  protesting. 
Standing  in  place  of  authority,  they  were  for  using  their 
power  to  stop  the  progress  of  what  they  considered  to  be 
error,  and  enforce  an  outward  uniformity  of  doctrine  and 
discipline.  Thus  upon  the  pedestal  from  which  the  idol 
of  the  Papacy  had  been  cast  down  the  idol  of  Orthodoxy 
was  set  up  ;  and  the  power  of  the  keys,  which  had  been 
taken  from  the  Pope  as  a  power  not  entrusted  to  human 
hands,  was  transferred  to  a  set  of  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  the  Crown,  who  took  upon  themselves  to  sus- 
pend or  silence  or  remove  from  oflfice  all  ministers  who 
preached  what  they  did  not  approve.  And  they  made 
the  fatal  mistake  of  exercising  this  power  not  merely 
against  incompetent  and  turbulent  fanatics,  over  whom 
with  opinion  on  their  side  they  might  have  prevailed,  but 
against  men  as  learned,  as  moderate,  as  earnest,  and  quite 
as  well  qualified  to  interpret  the  Scriptures  as  any  of 
themselves,  and  who  had  popular  opinion  moreover  run- 
ning strongly  in  their  favor.  For  at  this  time  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Catholics,  thivatening  as  they  did  the 
overthrow  of  Church  and  State  both,  had  naturally  made 
the  people  more  Protestant  than  ever,  and  engaged  their 
hearty  sympathies  in  favor  of  the  new  reformers,  who, 
with  Cartwright  and  Travers  at  their  head,  had  come  to 


Ig  A  CRISIS  IN  ENGLISH  HISTORY.  [Book  I. 

be  known  as  the  Nonconformist  party.     This  party,  far 
from  being  necessarily  in  opposition  to  the  Government, 
were  for  the  present  in  the  same  boat,  and  well  disposed, 
had  reasonable  liberty  of  action  been  allowed  them,  to  be 
amono-  its  most  zealous  and  effectual  supporters.     Their 
importance  as  a  party  may  be  understood  from  the  fact 
that  Leicester,  the  favorite,  was  content  to  put  himself  at 
their  head;    that  Walsingham,  Secretary  of   State,  was 
known  to  sympathize  with  them ;  that  Burghley,  Lord 
Treasurer,  though  restrained  by  official  caution  and  re- 
serve, was  believed  to  wish  them  well ;  that  Grmdal,  the 
late  Primate,  had  been  for  some  time  out  of  favor  with 
the  Queen  for  giving  too  much  countenance  to  some  ot 
their  opinions  ;  and  that  they  had  a  large  majority  m  tlie 
present  Mouse  of    Commons.     Whether  this   party  ^^;as 
to  be  in  alliance  with  the  State  or  in  opposition,  was  the 
question  now  at  issue  ;  and  to  this  particular  Parliament, 
more  distinctly  perhaps  than  to  any  other  period,  must 
be  assio-ned  the  determination  of  it. 

I  doubt  whether  there  has  been  a  more  important  crisis 
in  English  history,  or  whether  the  Queen  ever  made  a 
greater  mistake  than  in  choosing  this  moment  to  stop  the 
tide   and  put  herself  in  direct  opposition  to  this  party. 
She  succeeded  indeed:  she  carried  her  point  and  stood 
her  ground  during  her  own  life  ;  but  it  was  at  the  ex- 
pense of  creating  a  division  among  the  Protestant  party, 
which  ended  in  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy  itselt  for 
a  time,  and  in  making  the  existence  of  a  national  English 
Church,  in  any  true  sense  of  the  word  national,  an  impos- 
sibility to  this  day.     The  Church  of   England  emerge.l 
from  the  storm  with  the  name  and  legal  rights  and  tem- 
poral attractions,  but  without  the  moral  and  spiritual  au- 
thority, of  a  national  church,  to  be  thenceforward  only 
one  of    many  Protestant  sects'  into  winch  the  English 


'  sect 


1  To  prevent  misconceptions  I  may  mention  that  I  use  the  word 
exactly  the  san.e  «ensc  inwhich  Palcy  uses  it  in  the  foUowng  passage.      If  .n 


1584-86.]  BISHOPS  AND  NONCONFORMISTS.  19 

people  are  divided.  But  so  it  was  to  be.  Grindal  was 
dead  ;  and  Whitgift,  known  as  the  uncompromising  foe 
of  the  Nonconformists,  had  been  advanced  to  the  Pri- 
macy, wnth  the  avowed  purpose  of  enforcing  uniformity 
by  silencing  and  punishing  dissentients.  .  The  severity  of 
his  proceedings  was  now  taken  up  by  the  Commons  as  a 
national  grievance,  and  the  complaints  of  the  people  were 
embodied  in  a  petition  to  the  Queen,  the  substance  of 
which  may  be  seen  in  Fuller's  "  Church  History  "  ^  (ix. 
16.  7),  and  the  entire  document,  together  with  the  an- 
swers, in  D'Ewes's  "  Journals,"  pp.  357-361. 

The  particulars  and  progress  of  the  quarrel  will  be  no- 
ticed more  conveniently  a  little  further  on,  in  connection 
wdth  Bacon's  tract  on  Church  Controversies.  But  I 
thought  it  better  to  introduce  the  subject  in  this  place, 
because  of  the  great  impression  which  it  must  have  made 
upon  his  mind,  and  some  influence  which  it  probably  had 
upon  his  career.  What  his  judgment  was  upon  the  mat- 
ters in  controvers}''  we  shall  see  hereafter.  What  his 
prejudices  and  predispositions  were  likel}^  to  be  may  be 
partly  inferred  from  a  letter  addressed  at  the  time  by  his 
mother  to  Burghley. 

deference  then  to  these  reasons  it  be  admitted  that  a  legal  provision  for  the 
clergy,  compulsory  upon  those  who  contribute  to  it,  is  expedient,  the  real  ques- 
tion will  be,  wliether  this  provision  should  be  confined  to  one  sect  of  Christianity, 
or  extended  indifferently  to  all.  Now  it  should  be  observed  that  this  question 
never  can  offer  itself  where  the  people  are  agreed  in  their  religious  opinions, 
and  that  it  never  oii[/ht  to  arise  where  a  system  may  be  framed  of  doctrines  and 
worship  wide  enough  to  comprehend  their  disagreement,  and  which  might  sat- 
isfy all  by  uniting  all  in  the  articles  of  their  common  faith,  and  in  a  mode  of 
Divine  worship  that  omits  every  subject  of  controversy  or  offense.  Where  such 
a  comprehension  is  practicable,  the  comprehending  religion  ought  to  be  made 
the  religion  of  the  State."  This  is  exactly  what  I  mean  by  "a  national  Church 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  word  national."  The  rest  of  Paley's  argument  pro- 
ceeds upon  the  supposition  that  such  a  Church  is  to  be  despaired  of,  that  "sep- 
arate congregations  and  different  sects  must  unavoidably  continue  in  the  coun- 
try," and  that  the  only  practicable  form  of  national  religion  is  the  establish-' 
ment  by  law  "of  one  sect  in  preference  to  the  rest."  -  Moral  and  Pol.  Pkilos. 
ch.  X. 
1  ]Misplaced  under  the  year  1587. 


20  LETTER  FROM   LADY   BACON.  [Book  I. 

During  the  Cluistmas  vecess  a,  conference  l,ad  taken 
place  atlambeth  between  the  Bishops  and  the  Noneon- 
Lmists-or  Preachers,  as  they  were  -Ued-upon  t  e 
questions  raised  in  the  petition ;  and  >t  ^-ms  that  t  e 
Bishons  were  thought  to  have  had  much  the  best  of  the 
Bishops  we.eg  ^^^   Preachers 

argument.     Lady  liacon,   ueiic.    ^ 

had   not   had   fair   play,  in  the  abundance   of  her  .eal 
ought  an  interview  with  Burgbley  to  urge  «,e.r  cause 
:„?tbe  next  day  reinforced  her  -g7«f  ^  ^y  a    et^ 
in  which,  after  pleading  earnestly  on  behalf  of  the  P.each 
Tfor  i;we  Lt  to  assemble  and  --f/ogf- ™f, 
then  to  prove  the  justice  of  their  cause  before  tl>e  Queen 
or  her   Council,  and   not   before   the   B.shops,  -  bemg 
"partis  partial  in  their  own  defense"  -"  for  mure  own 
part,"  she  proceeds  :  — 

.■  I  will  not  deny,  but  as  I  may  hear  them  in  their  pubhc  ex- 
erciesasachief  luty  c„mma,.do,,  by  ««1  '»;;'-;; -^„^^     . 
I  confess  as  one  that  had,  fou„d  mercy,  that  T  have  ,  lohlul 
m"e    n  the  inward  feeling  knowledge  of   God  Ins  h„lv  wdl, 
Z  H  bat  in  a  small  measure,  by  such  sincere  a„d  sound  open- 
go     he  Scriptures  by  an  ordinary  P'-'""»"  -'"'"     ^^^ 
sein  or  eiffbt  years,  than  I  did  by  l,caru,g  odd  ser.nons  at 
PS  vellu  gb  Lenty  years  togeth.-r.     I  menfon  tins  unj^^n- 
cd Iv  the  ratblr  to  excuse  this  my  boldness  towards  your  Lmd- 
,      ,mt.y  beseeching   your  Lotdsbip    to  tbmk    upon    bet 
suit,  and  as  God  shall  move  your  understaudn.g  heart  to  fu.tbe, 

"'  The  day  before  this  letter  was  written,  the  House  of 
Comm.n,s   had    received   the  answer  of   the  U.shops  to 
S     r     :Ution,and  the  Nonconforndsts  had  learne     t  ut 
they  m u.,t  eitlnu-  abandon  their  cause,  of  work  ,t  .  g.uns 
i'r Governn,ent  by  the  help  of  popuh.r  sympathy  an.l 

""'inhis  time,  it  seems,  the  suit  (whatever  it  was) 
.,  1,  Bacon  bad  ma,le  to  the  Queen,  thro,,,,  •.nrgh  ey 
in  1580,  remained  in   suspense,  nether  grantd  not   dc 


1584  86.]  FATE   OF   HIS   FIRST  SUIT.  21 

iiied  ;  and  the  uncertainty  prevented  liim  from  settling 
his  course  of  life.  From  the  following  letter  to  Walsing- 
ham  we  may  gather  two  things  more  concerning  it :  it 
was  something  which  had  been  objected  to  as  unfit  for  so 
young  a  man  ;  and  which  would  in  some  way  have  made 
it  unnecessary  for  him  to  follow  "  a  course  of  practice,"  — 
meaning,  I  presume,  ordinary  practice  at  the  Bar. 

To  thp:  Right  Hoxorable  Sir  Francis  Walsinguam,  Prin- 
cipal Secretary  to  Her  Majesty. 

It  may  please  your  Honor  to  give  me  leave  amidst  your 
great  and  diverse  business  to  put  you  in  remembrance  of 
my  poor  suit,  leaving  the  time  unto  your  Honor's  best 
opportunity  and  commodity.  I  think  the  objection  of  my 
years  will  wear  away  with  the  length  of  my  suit.  The 
very  stay  doth  in  this  respect  concern  me,  because  I  am 
thereby  hindered  to  take  a  course  of  practice,  which  by 
the  leave  of  God,  if  her  Majesty  like  not  of  my  suit,  I 
must  and  will  follow  :  not  for  any  necessity  of  estate,  but 
for  my  credit  sake,  which  I  know  by  living  out  of  action 
will  wear.  I  spake  when  the  Court  was  at  Theball's  to 
Mr.  Vice-Chamberlain,^  who  promised  me  his  furderance ; 
which  I  did  lest  he  mought  be  made  for  some  other.  If 
it  may  please  your  Honor,  who  as  I  hear  hath  great  in- 
terest in  him,  to  speak  with  him  in  it,  I  think  he  will  be 
fast  mine.  Thus  desiring  continuance  of  your  Honor's 
favor,  I  wish  you  all  good,  and  myself  occasion  to  do  you 
service.  Gray's  Inn,  this  25th  of  August,  85. 
Your  Honor's  in  all  duty, 

Fk.  Bacon. 

This  is  the  last  we  hear  of  this  suit,  the  nature  and 
fate  of  which  must  botli  be  left  to  conjecture.  With  re- 
gard to  its  fate,  my  oAvn  conjecture  is  that  he  presently 
gave  up  all  hope  of  success  in  it,  and  tried  instead  to  ob- 

l  This  was  Sir  Ciiristophcr  Ilatton. 


22  FRESH   APrLICATION   TO  BURGHLEY.  [Book  I. 

tain   throu<;li   his  interest  at  Court  some  furtherance  in 
the  direct  line  of  his  profession.     It  is  certain  that  about 
this  time   or  soon  after  he  made  another  application  to 
Burghley,  the  precise  nature  of  which  we  are  again  left 
to  guess,  but  which  was  to  faciUtate  his  "  coming  within 
bars;"  that  is,  as   I  suppose  (for   the   meaning  of   the 
phrase   is  doubtful),   his    admission    to    practice   in    the 
Courts.     By  the  regulations  then  in  force  an  utter  bar- 
rister  had  to  continue  in  "  exercise  of  learning  "  for  five 
years,  before  he  was  permitted   to  plead  at  any  of  the 
Courts  at  Westminster,  or  to  subscribe  any  plea.     Bacon, 
having  been  admitted  to  the  Utter  Bar  on  the  2Tth  of 
June,  1582,  had  still  more  than  two  years  to  wait ;  and 
if,  according  to  the  intention  intimated  in  the  last  letter, 
he  was  now  ready  and  resolved  "  to  take  a  course  of  prac- 
tice," he  would  naturally  wish  to  have  his  term  of  proba- 
tion shortened.     In  what  precise  way  this  was  to  be  done 
I  do  not  know,  but  I  presume  that  between  Burghley  and 
the  Queen  means  might  have  been  found,  and  that  he 
now  submitted  to  Burghley  some  proposition  with  that 

view. 

We  need  not  assume  that  his  pretensions  were  really 
unreasonable  or  his  manners  justly  offensive,  to  account 
for  the  fact  which  appears  from  the  next  letter,  that  they 
had  by  this  time   exposed  him  to  some  unfriendly  criti- 
cism, that  complaints  reached  Burghley  of  his  nephew's 
arrogance,   and   that   Burghley  thought   it  expedient  to 
give  him  some  good  advice  on  the  subject.     The  solid 
grounds  on  which  Bacon's  pretensions  rested  had  not  yet 
been  made  manifest  to  the  apprehension  of  Bench  and 
Bar  ;  his  mind  was  full  of  matters  with  which  they  could 
have  no  sympathy,  and  the  shy  and  studious  habits  which 
we  have  seen  so  offend  Mr.  Faunt,  would  naturally  be 
misconsti-U(Ml  in  tlui  sauK^  way  by  many  others.     The  ni- 
credulous  disdain  with  which  the  English  public  greets 
every  young  aspirant   who  proclaims  himself  or  is  pro- 


1584-8G.]     REPLY  TO  CHARGE  OF  ARROGANCE.         23 

claimed  by  liis  friends  as  anything  out  of  the  common 
way  speedily  disappears  if  the  pretensions  be  made  good  ; 
as  we  shall  see  that  in  Bacon's  case  it  very  soon  did.  To 
any  one  who  would  understand  his  position  and  follow 
his  career  in  the  world,  the  little  glinipse  revealed  by  the 
next  letter  of  the  feelings  with  which  some  of  his  contem- 
poraries regarded  him,  now  in  his  twenty-sixth  year,  will 
prove  very  instructive. 

TO   LORD  BDRGHLEY. 

My  very  GOOD  Lord,  —  I  take  it  as  an  undoubted 
sign  of  your  Lordship's  favor  unto  me  that  being  hardly 
informed  of  me  you  took  occasion  rather  of  good  advice 
than  of  evil  opinion  thereby.  And  if  your  Lordship  had 
grounded  only  upon  the  said  information  of  theirs,  I 
mought  and  would  truly  have  upholden  that  few  of  the 
matters  were  justly  objected  ;  as  the  very  circumstances 
do  induce  in  that  they  were  delivered  by  men  that  did 
misaffect  me  and  besides  were  to  give  color  to  their  own 
doings.  But  because  your  Lordship  did  mingle  there- 
with both  a  late  motion  of  mine  own  and  somewhat 
which  you  had  otherwise  heard,  I  know  it  to  be  my  duty 
(and  so  do  I  stand  affected)  rather  to  prove  your  Lord- 
ship's admonition  effectual  in  my  doings  liereafter,  than 
causeless  b}'  excusing  what  is  past.  And  yet  (with  your 
Lordship's  pardon  humbly  asked)  it  may  please  you  to 
remember  that  I  did  endeavor  to  set  forth  that  said 
motion  in  such  sort  as  it  mought  breed  no  harder  effect 
tban  a  denial.  And  I  protest  simply  before  God  that  I 
sought  therein  an  ease  in  coming  within  Bars,  and  not 
any  extraortlinaiy  and  singular  note  of  favor.  And  for 
that  your  Lordship  may  otherwise  have  heard  of  me,  it 
shall  make  me  more  wary  and  circumspect  in  carriage  of 
myself.  Indeed  I  find  in  my  simple  observation  that 
they  which  live  as  it  were  in  umhrd  and  not  in  public 
or  frequent  action,  how  moderately  and  modestly  soever 


24  LETTER  TO   BURGHLEY.  [Book  I. 

they  behave  themselves,  yet  laborant  invidid.  I  find 
also  that  such  persons  as  are  of  nature  bashful  (as  myself 
is),  whereby  they  want  that  plausible  familiarity  which 
others  have,  are'^  often  mistaken  for  proud.  But  once  I 
know  well  and  I  most  humbly  beseech  your  Lordship  to 
believe,  that  arrogancy  and  overweening  is  so  far  from 
my  nature,  as  if  I  think  well  of  myself  in  anything  it  is 
in  this  that  I  am  free  from  that  vice.  And  I  hope  upon 
this  your  Lordship's  speech  I  have  entered  into  those 
considerations  as  my  behavior  shall  no  more  deliver  me 
for  other  than  I  am.  And  so  wishing  unto  your  Lord- 
ship all  honor  and  to  myself  continuance  of  your  good 
opinion  with  mind  and  means  to  deserve  it,  I  humbly 
take  my  leave.  Gray's  Inn,  this  6th  day  of  May,  1586. 
Your  Lordship's  most  bounden  Nephew, 

Fk.  Bacon. 

If  a  speedier  progress  through  Gray's  Inn  was  what 
this  "  late  motion  "  aimed  at,  it  seems  to  have  had  some 
success.     On  the  10th  of    February,   1585-6,  a  pension 
was  held,   at  which  (whether  upon  the  mere   motion  of 
the  Benchers  or  by  the  help  of  interest  at  Court  I  do  not 
know)  he  was  admitted  "  to  have  place  with  the  Readere 
at  the  Readers'  table  ;  but  not  to  have  any  voice  in  pen- 
sion, nor  to  win  ancienty  of  any  that  was  his  ancient,  or 
should    read    before    him."     And    this  must   have  been 
speedily  followed  by  full  admission  to  the  Bench.     For 
in  a  list  of  his  honors,  as  given  in  a  book  which  seems  to 
have  been  transferred  by  some  accident  from  Gray's  Inn 
to  the  British  Museum  (Harl.   MSS.  1912),  he  is  stated 
to  have  become  a  I'^encher  in  1586.     And  this  I  presume 
gave  him  that  entrance  '^within  bars,"  with  liberty  to 
plead  in  the   Courts  of   Westminster,  for  which  he  had 
been  seeking.     But  before    tliat  time  he  had  to  witness 
another  immense  national  excitement,  and  to  be  a  spec- 
tator, though   happily  not  an   actor,  in   one  of   the  great 
tragedies  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A.  D.  1586-1589.     ^TAT.  26-29. 

I  HAVE  spoken  of  tlie  agitations  into  which  all  Eng- 
land was  thi'own  by  the  conspiracies  of  1583  and  1584, 
and  of  the  expression  which  it  found  in  Parliament. 
The  violence  of  the  popular  storm  may  be  judged  of  by 
the  tenor  of  the  Act  which  was  then  passed,  and  passed 
unanimously  by  both  Houses  —  the  Lower  House  being 
at  that  time  not  at  all  remarkable  for  subserviency,  but 
quite  prepared  in  a  popular  cause  to  take  courses  most 
distasteful  to  the  Ci'own  —  for  the  purpose  of  giving  a 
legal  sanction  to  the  voluntary  association  for  the  defense 
of  the  Queen's  life.  This  Act  not  only  authorized  the 
trial  by  a  new  tribunal  —  a  body  of  not  less  than 
twenty-four  Lords  and  Privy  Councillors  appointed  for 
the  purpose  by  the  Queen,  with  judges  to  assist  —  of 
any  pretender  to  the  Crown  by  whom  or  for  whom  any 
attempt  should  be  made  against  her  life  ;  not  only  em- 
powered a  majorit}'^  of  these  commissioners,  upon  proof 
that  such  attempt  had  been  made  with  the  privity  of 
the  persons  accused,  to  pass  sentence  of  death  upon 
them  :  but  actually  made  it  lawful,  as  soon  as  such  sen- 
tence had  been  passed  and  duly  proclaimed,  for  an}^  of 
the  Queen's  subjects  "  by  virtue  of  this  Act  and  lier 
Majesty's  direction  in  that  behalf  "  to  "  pursue  them  to 
death."  So  much  at  least,  the  words  of  the  Act  strictly 
construed  seem   to  imply  ;  ^  and  T  see  no  reason  to  doubt 

1  27  Eliz.  c.  1.  "And  that  tlRTeupon  all  her  Tliijliness' subjects  shall  and 
may  lawfully,  by  virtue  of  this  Act  and  her  Majesty's  direction  in  that  behalf, 


26  CONSPIRACY  AND  TRIAL  OF  MARY.  [Book  I. 

that  they  truly  expressed  the  deliberate  wish  and  inten- 
tion of  the  alarmed  and  irritated  Protestantism  of  Eng- 
land. 

Whatever    may    be    thought   of    its    equity    in   other 
respects,  the   Act  had  one  merit.     It  was  at  least  a  fair 
warning  to  all  men,  with  due  notice  of  the  consequences, 
not  to  engage  in  any  such  attempt  upon  their  peril.     It 
had  not  been   in  force,  however,  for  much  more  than  a 
twelvemonth,  when  the    nation   was  again    alarmed   by 
news  of  a  fresh  conspiracy,  more  desperate  than  any  of 
the    former,   with   the    threefold    object  of  assassinating 
Elizabeth,  raising  an  insurrection  in  England,  and  indu- 
cinf^  an  invasion  from  abroad.     That  such  a  conspiracy 
was  actually  on  foot,  and  that  to  liberate  Mary  of  Scot- 
land and  place  her  on  the  throne  w^as  the  main  and  ex- 
press end  of  it,  —  therefore,  that  it  was  in  that  sense  an 
attempt    on    Elizabeth's    life    made   for  her,— did    not 
admit  of  a  doubt.     Whether    she    knew   of   it,   or   was 
otherwise  accessary,  is  a  question  upon  which  modern  his- 
torians, knowing  some  things  which  nobody  knew  then, 
and    ignorant,  probably,  of    many   things  which    every- 
body knew  then,  may  reasonably  differ,     lint  the  unan- 
imous  verdict  of'  forty  noblemen   and   privy  councillors, 
duly  appointed  under  the  late  Act  to  try  the  case,  would 
no    doubt    be    accepted   by  that  generation    as  decisive. 
Before  this  verdict  had  been  pronounced,  and  while  the 
history  of    the  whole  plot,  fully  confirmed  by  the  con- 
fession of  the  parties,  was  yet  fresh  news  in  the  land,  a 
new  Parliament  had  been  summoned.     The  general  elec- 
tion   and    the   trial  of    Mary    before  the    commissioners 
must  have  been  going  on  at  the  same  time;  and  on  the 
2«tlli    of  October,  158(5,  only    four   dnys  after  their  scn- 

by  all  forcible  .-ukI  possible  ineaii-s  pursue  to  death  every  of  such  wicked  per- 
sons bv  whom  or  by  whose  means,  assent  or  privity,  any  such  invasion  or  re- 
bellion" shall  be  in  form  af.)resaid  denounc-d  to  iiave  been  made,  or  such 
wicked  act  attempted,"  etc  The  clause  may  perhaps  have  been  intended  to 
provide  a<;aitist  the  chance  of  rescue  or  escape. 


1&8C-89.]        EXECUTIOX  OF  MARY,   QUEEN  OF  SCOTS.  27 

tence  had  been  declared,  the  houses  met.  The  case  was 
at  once  laid  before  them,  was  eagerly  taken  up,  vehe- 
mently debated  (though  the  speakers  seem  to  have  been 
all  on  one  side),  and  concluded  b}"-  a  unanimous  confir- 
mation of  the  sentence,  accompanied  by  addresses  to  the 
Queen  from  both  houses,  earnestly  praying  for  the  pub- 
lication and  speedy  execution  of  it.  And  though  it  must 
be  owned  that  their  language  and  arguments,  when 
looked  back  upon  out  of  the  security  of  settled  times, 
seem  to  savor  more  of  fear  and  fury  than  of  judgment 
and  deliberation,  yet,  perhaps,  if  a  man  could  really  un- 
derstand the  case,  —  if  he  could  carry  his  imagination 
back  into  the  time,  so  as  truly  to  conceive  the  beliefs, 
the  hojDes,  the  fears,  whicli  then  ruled  in  men's  minds, 
—  the  vast  interests  at  stake,  the  solid  grounds  of  alarm, 
the  universal  conviction  of  iNIary's  acquiescence  in  the 
whole  plot,  —  he  would  think  that  this  Parliament  was 
not  more  extravagant  in  its  humor  than  parliaments  are 
apt  to  be  in  seasons  of  popular  excitement  even  now,  and 
that  the  practical  conclusion  to  which  it  came  admits  of 
a  fair  defense.  Certainly,  if  we  might  but  assume  that 
the  trial  before  the  Commissioners  was  fairly  conducted 
and  the  verdict  just  (which  I  have  no  doubt  everybody 
believed  then),  the  vote  might  be  justified.  The  out- 
rageous clauses  of  the  statute  under  which  Mary  was 
tried,  were  not  in  question  ;  she  had  been  found  guilty 
of  being  an  accessary  to  the  projected  assassination  ;  and 
whatever  had  seemed  to  justify  her  detention  in  cap- 
tivity, must  have  seemed  much  more  to  justify  her  trial 
and  execution  for  such  an  act,  especially  after  such  a 
Avarning. 

In  this  Pai-liament,  Bacon  sat  for  Taunton  in  Somer- 
setshire. His  name  is  mentioned  by  D'  Ewes  (4th  Nov- 
ember) as  one  of  the  speakers  on  "the  Great  Cause ; "  also 
HS  one  of  the  committees  to  whom  it  was  referred,  and 
who  were  continually  occupied  witli   it    until   the  ^d  of 


28  CONDUCT  OF  ELIZABETH.  [B"""  '• 

December;  on   which   day   the   House   was   adjourned. 
But  of  wliat  he  said,  or  the  part  he  took  (more  than  that 
he  spoke  on  the  popular  side),  no  record  remanis;  uor 
is  there  any  aUusion  in  any  of  his  wntn^gs,  that  I  know 
of  from  which  his  opinion  upon  this  case  can  be  in  erred. 
U'pon  a  case  so  rare,  and  so  full  of  matter  to  strd.e    he 
i„U->"='tio„,  to  touch  the  feelings,  and  to   exercse  the 
indgment,he  must  donbtless  have  had  many  thoughts ; 
but  whatever  the  conclusion,  they  can  hardly  have  been 
other  than  painful ;  painful  tor  the  conflict  of  fed'"g»  "l" 
volved  in  the  case  itself,  more  painful  for  the  reflec  mn  it 
cast  upon  the  character  of  Elizabeth;  whose  conduct  after 
the  passing  and  confirmation  of  the  sentence -showing 
as  it  did  a  disposition  not  only  to  evade  herself,  bat   o 
shift  npon  others,  the  responsibility  of  that  which  was  to 
be  done- could  not  even  to  the  most  favorable  inter- 
preter but  seem  unworthy  of   her.     I  say  a  d,>,pos,Uon, 
not  a  determination:  becanse  those  inconsistencies  m  her 
conduct  at  this  pincture  which  are  commonly  imputed  to 
Jd-blooded  hypocrisy   and    deliberate    double-dealing, 
Ly  in  my  opinion  be  more  probably  explained  as  the 
St  of  a'real  struggle  between  strength  of  will  and  ir- 
resolution of  judgment.     I  believe  that  she  was  really  per- 
plexed in  hei-  mind,  and  did  not  know  what  to  do;  and 
as  she  never  troubled  herself  to  conceal  from  her  comcd- 
lors  those  hesitations  and  variations    of  purpose  which 
almost  always  preceded  her  final  deten^rat.ons,      con 
ceive  that  many  of  the  speeches  up.m  which  the  charge 
of  hypocrisy  most  rests,  were  in  fact  the  expression  of 
thoughts  half  made  „p,  -  conclusions  winch  were  stiU  in 
the  balance,  which  she  had  not  decided  to  act  upon  and 
did   not  intend   her  councillors   to   adopt  ^'«  J"'"'^"™^, 
They  on  tbeir  part  had  a  difficult  task  to  perform.     No 
liking  to  ask  for  more  distinct  resolutions  on  a  subject  on 
whi<a,  the  very  didiculty  of  resolving  made  her  irritable 
tl„.y  had  to  ,y«..->8  what  hints  they  were  meant  to  a«t 


1580-83.]  CONTRASTED   WITH  MARY'S.  29 

upon  without  further  orders,  and  what  not;  in  which  it 
was  easy  for  them  to  make  mistakes,  especially  having  a 
strong  bias  of  their  own  in  favor  of  the  shortest  way. 
Some  such  misunderstanding  miglit  account  for  that 
doubtful  message  on  the  strength  of  which  the  warrant 
against  Mary  was  at  last  executed  ;  which  Elizabeth  dis- 
avowed ;  and  for  deliv^ering  which  Davison  was  p>rose- 
cuted  in  the  Star  Chamber  and  ruined.  Such  may  also 
be  the  true  explanation  of  a  blacker  transaction  ;  I  mean 
the  joint  letter  addressed  to  Sir  Amias  Paulet  by  AVal- 
singham  and  Davison  ^  signifying  the  Queen's  surprise, 
apparent  by  "  speech  lately  uttered,"  that  none  of  her 
loyal  subjects  should  have  found  a  wa}'^  to  relieve  her 
from  her  embarrassment,  namely  by  pursuing  Mary  to 
death  (for  the  words  can  bear  no  other  meaning),  as  their 
oaths  bound  and  the  statute  warranted  them  to  do.  That 
such  a  solution  of  the  question  would  have  been  convenient 
to  Elizabeth,  was  true  ;  that  in  the  agitations  of  irresolu- 
tion such  a  thought  should  present  itself  to  her  mind,  was 
natural  ;  that  in  talking  with  her  confidential  councillors 
it  found  its  way  to  her  tongue,  is  not  improbable  ;  that 
her  councillors,  not  daring  on  so  delicate  and  dangerous  a 
subject  to  ask  more  directly  what  she  meant,  should  seek 
to  shift  the  difficulty  from  themselves  b}^  passing  the  hint 
on  to  those  who  were  about  Mary's  person,  may  be  easily 
supposed.  But  that  she  really  intended  them  to  do  so,  is 
to  me,  considering  her  character  and  ways,  less  easy  to 
believe,  than  that  they  thought  she  did  and  were  mistaken. 
When  all  is  said,  however,  her  behavior  throughout  the 
business,  read  it  as  favorably  as  we  may,  was  not  such 
as  any  loyal  subject  could  have  thought  upon  without  re- 
gret. It  showed  the  worse,  too,  by  contrast  with  that  of 
her  victim.  Mary,  whatever  else  was  in  her,  possessed 
in  full  measure  all  tliose  qualities  which  have  so  often 
turned  the  scaffold   into   a  scene  of  public  triumph,  in 

1  See  Ileiiriie,  livb.  of  Glouc,  p.  673. 


gQ  DEATH  OF  MARY.  [Book  I. 

which  the  memory  of  the  sufferer  is  cleared  from  all  its 
stains,  and  every  harsher  thought  is  lost  for  ever  m  rever- 
ence {.nd  pity.     It  was  on  the  7th  of  February,  15b6-7, 
that  she  received  notice  to  prepare  to  die  the  next  morn- 
ino-      It  seems  she  did  not  need  even  that  short  notice. 
She  was  ready  on  the  instant  to  meet  death  with  a  com- 
posure and  a  dignity  such  as  neither  martyr  nor  philoso- 
pher ever  surpassed.     Even  the  dry  official  report  of  the 
day's  proceedings,  made  by  the   Commissioners   to  the 
Council,  reads,  in  spite  of  its  formal  phraseology  and  im- 
passive  tone,  like  a  leaf  out  of  the  closing  scene  of  some 
majestic  tragedy  — 

High  actions  and  high  passions  best  describing  : 

whereas  Elizabeth  -  who,  if  she  had  proceeded  to  the 
execution  with  the  same  openness,  directness,  and  solem- 
nity with  which  she  had  conducted  the  trial,  would  have 
seemed,  in  the  eyes  of  her  own  people  at  least,  like  the 
minister  of  God's  justice,  -  contrived  by  her  delays,  un- 
certainties, and  ambiguous  directions,  to  seem  like  one 
sacrificing  justice  to  state  policy,  and  doing  what  she  was 
ashamed  of. 

The  Parliament  did  not  meet  again  for  work  till  the 
02d  of  February;  on  which  day    the  perilous  condition 
of  the  Protestant  cause  in  Europe  was  set  forth  at  large 
to  the  House  by  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  and  urged  as  a 
motive  for  granting  a  subsidy, -to  be  employed  mamly 
in  supporting  the   Netherlands   against   Spain.     A  com- 
mittee, including  the  first  knight  of  every  slnre  as  well 
■ts  all  the  privy  councillors  that  were  of  the  House,  was 
•Mumcdiately  appointed  in  the  usual  form,  "  to  set  down 
articles   for    the    subsidy."     And    they    appear    to    have 
..nt.Mvd  on  the  business  with   more   than  usual  alacrity. 
If  the   Journals  are  not  too  imperfect  to  ground  a  con- 
jecture upon,  they  agreed  at  once  to  offer  more  than  was 
•tsked      r>..t  a  dilliculty  arose.     On  the  one  hand,  a  single 


1586-89.]  PARLIAMENT:   BENEVOLENCE  OFFERED.  31 

subsidy  w;is  thought  insufficient  for  the  exigency  ;  on  the 
other  hand,  to  gnmt  a  double  subsidy  (which  had  never 
been  done  yet)  would  create  a  precedent  which  might  be 
abused.  In  order  to  avoid  the  precedent,  and  yet  not  to 
withold  the  necessary  supply,  it  was  proposed  to  increase 
the  grant  by  "  a  loan  or  voluntary  contribution,"  to  be 
offered  to  the  Queen  by  both  Houses.  Such  at  least 
seems  to  be  the  most  probable  explanation  of  an  entry 
in  the  Journals  of  the  2-3d  of  February  (the  day  after 
the  appointment  of  the  Subsidy  Committee),  which  de- 
serves to  be  quoted  both  for  the  proposal  itself  —  a  novel 
one  as  originating  in  such  a  quarter  —  and  for  the  promi- 
nent position  in  which  it  exhibits  Bacon's  name.  It 
runs  thus  :  "  The  Committees  appointed  for  conference 
touching  a  loan  or  benevolence  to  be  offered  to  her  INIaj- 
esty  are,  Mr.  Francis  Bacon,  Mr.  Edward  Lewkenor,  and 
others."  And  I  quote  it  the  rather  because  in  the  two 
next  Parliaments  we  shall  find  Bacon's  name  equally 
prominent  in  connection  with  motions  which,  though  not 
the  same,  were  for  the  same  object.  The  result  in  this 
case  is  not  distinctly  stated.  It  may  be  inferred  however 
from  the  silence  of  the  Journals,  that  it  was  judged  best 
not  to  proceed  further  in  the  matter  till  the  Subsidy  Bill 
had  been  framed  and  passed  in  the  ordinaiy  way.  But 
as  soon  as  this  was  done,  —  as  soon  as  a  bill  for  one  sub- 
sidy and  two  fifteenths  and  tenths  had  passed  through 
its  three  readings  and  gone  to  the  upper  House  (which 
was  on  the  7th  of  March),  —  the  subject  was  taken  up 
again  ;  and  on  the  11th  a  Committee  was  appointed  to 
confer  with  the  Lords,  and  invite  them  to  join  "  in  a  Co7i- 
trihution  or  Benevolence  for  the  charges  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries' wars,  which  they  of  the  House  of  Commons  meant 
to  offer  unto  her  Majesty."  The  Lords  declined  the  pro- 
posal, and  it  was  resolved  that  each  House  should  pro- 
ceed by  itself.  What  the  Lords  did  further  or  whether 
they  did  anything,  is  nut  stated  ;  but  the  Commons,  be- 


32  COMMITTAL  OF  MEMBERS  TO  THE  TOWER.         [Book  I. 

ing  informed  on  the  18tli  that  tlie  Queen,  ''  understand- 
ing of  their  great  love  unto  her  in  regard  of  the  charges 
sustained  in  the  Low  Countries,"  would  give  audience 
that  afternoon  to  some  convenient  number  of  them, 
appointed  a  Committee  to  wait  on  her  ;  and  as  we  hear 
no  more  of  the  matter,  I  conclude  that  at  this  audience 
the  offer  was  made  and  declined:  a  circumstance  to 
which  Bacon  probably  alludes  in  his  "  Discourse  in  praise 
of  his  Sovereign  "  (written  about  the  year  1592),  where 
he  says, — "there  shall  you  find  no  new  taxes,  imposi- 
tions, nor  devices  ;  but  the  benevolence  of  the  subject 
freely  offered  by  assent  of  Parliament,  according  to  the 
ancient  rates,  and  with  great  moderation  in  assessment ; 
and  not  so  only,  but  some  neiv  forms  of  contribution  of- 
fered Ukeivise  by  the  subject  in  Parliament,  and  the  dem- 
onstration of  their  devotion  only  accepted,  but  the  thing 
never  put  in  ure  :  "  a  passage  of  which  the  substance  is 
repeated  in  his  "  Observations  on  a  Libel." 

For  the  rest,  this  session  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  an 
ineffectual  attempt  to  revive  the  question  concerning 
ecclesiastical  government  so  much  discussed  in  the  last 
Parliament,  and  to  raise  a  question  concerning  the  right 
of  free  speech  in  that  House  ;  both  which  motions  were 
summarily  answered  by  the  removal  to  the  Tower  of  the 
members  who  stirred  them  ;  —  also  for  the  quiet  way  in 
which  the  House  took  the  matter  ;  the  majority  being 
content,  it  seems,  when  it  was  proposed  to  petition  for 
the  restitution  of  their  missing  members,  to  suppose  that 
"  they  might  perhaps  be  committed  for  somewliat  that 
concerned  not  the  business  or  privileges  of  the  House." 
But  the  times  were  too  full  of  danger  to  allow  of  a  quar- 
rel  between  the  Queen  and  the  Commons  just  then. 

Piirliam.'nt  was  dissolved  on  the  23d  of  March,  1580-7  : 
and  from  this  time  we  have  no  more  news  of  Bacon 
(unless  it  l)e  worth  wliile  to  mention  that  he  assisted  in 
gf'tting  n|)  the  iii;is(|ii''  wliicli  was  picscnted  to  the  Queen 


ir,86-89.]  THE   SPANISH   ARMADA.  33 

by  tlie  gentlemen  of  Gray's  Inn  on  the  28th  of  Febrnary 
following)  till  after  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada; 
an  event  which  I  need  only  name,  that  its  significance 
in  relation  to  all  the  political  qnestions  of  the  time  may 
be  sufficiently  appreciated.  On  the  20th  of  July,  1588, 
the  Spanish  Armada  appeared  in  the  British  Channel, 
while  the  Prince  of  Parma  waited  with  a  large  army  in 
the  Low  Countries  ready  to  form  a  junction  at  Calais. 
By  the  middle  of  August  the  wreck  of  the  Armada  was 
making  its  way  home  round  the  shores  of  Scotland  and 
Ireland,  and  the  Prince  of  Parma  was  drawing  his  forces 
away  from  the  coast.  But  though  baffled  for  the  season, 
Spain  was  neither  disabled  by  this  disaster,  nor  perhaps 
(considering  in  how  great  part  it  was  owing  to  accidents 
of  weather)  \ev\  much  discouraged  ;  and  next  spring 
was  looked  forward  to  with  great  and  just  apprehen- 
sion. By  way  of  preparation,  Elizabeth  summoned  a 
new  Parliament  for  November,  1588 ;  which  did  not 
however  meet  for  business  till  the  4th  of  February  fol- 
lowing. The  cause  for  which  they  were  called  was  ex- 
plained by  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  now  Lord  Chancellor, 
—  namely,  to  take  measures  for  provision  of  arms,  sol- 
diers, and  money,  against  the  future  attempts  of  the  King 
of  Spain.  The  Commons  were  as  prompt  as  before  to 
meet  the  extraordinar}-  occasion  by  an  extraordinary  sup- 
ply ;  but  not  less  jealous  than  before  of  setting  an  exam- 
ple which  other  Parliaments  might  be  expected  to  follow 
on  occasions  less  urgent,  or  by  sovereigns  less  frugal,  less 
disinterested,  and  less  in  syrapath}'  with  the  people. 
How  they  attempted  to  escape  this  dilemma  in  the  last 
Parliament,  I  have  already  ex])lained.  They  then  voted 
a  single  subsidy  to  be  levied  in  the  usual  way,  but  offered 
at  the  same  time  to  sanction  the  collection  of  a  benevo- 
\ence  or  voluntary  contribution.  To  this  however  the 
Queen  herself  objected  (graeiouslv,  I  suppose,  yet  so  as 
to  forbid  the  renewal  of  a  simihir  oifer),  and  contented 

VOL.  I.  3 


84  BACON'S  PART  IN  PARLIAMENT.  [Book  I. 

herself  for  that  time  with  the  simple  subsidy.  There 
was  now  nothing  left  for  them  (having  a  due  regard  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  State)  but  to  grant  a  double  sub- 
sidy, leviable  according  to  the  ancient  usage;  and  to 
provide  as  far  as  might  be  against  its  passing  into  a 
precedent  for  the  future,  by  introducing  a  clause  for  that 
express  purpose  into  the  preamble  of  the  bill.  Whether 
the  precaution  originated  with  Bacon  in  either  case,  I 
cannot  say ;  but  here  again  his  name  stands  foremost  in 
connection  with  it.  The  suggestion  had  been  made  and 
approved  in  the  Committee,  and  "  one  of  the  Commit- 
tees, to-wit,  Mr.  Francis  Bacon,  had  for  that  purpose  set 
down  a  note  in  writing ;"  which  having  been  read  and 
approved  by  the  House,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Speaker 
should  deliver  it  to  her  Majesty's  learned  counsel,  who 
were  charged  Avith  the  preparation  of  the  Bill ;  and  that 
"  the  said  Mr.  Bacon  should  also  repair  unto  them  for 
the  further  proceeding  therein  with  them." 

No  objection  seems  to  have  been  made  ;  for  the  pre- 
amble of  the  Act,  after  reciting  in  the  customary  manner 
the  occasion  of  the  ])resent  grant,  adds,  —  and  for  that 
we  do  perceive  that  the  granting  only  of  such  an  ordinary 
subsidy  to  be  levied  as  hath  been  commonly  used  171  former 
times  of  smaller  dangers^  is  in  no  tvise  sufficient  and  an- 
swerable to  the  unusual  and  great  charges  sustained  and 
to  be  sustained  by  your  Majesty  for  these  so  great  actions^''' 
etc.,  and  so  proceeds  to  grant  two  entire  subsidies  and 
four  fifteenths  and  tciiths.i  The  bill,  after  some  slight 
opposition  (in  which  it  is  worth  observing  that  the  tM\- 
dency  of  so  large  a  grant  to  interfere  with  a  BcnevoUnce^ 
should  such  a  measure  be  required,  was  urged  as  an  ob- 
jection on  the  popular'  side  ^)  was  passed  by  the  Com- 
mons on  the  Hth  of  March,  by  the  Lords  on  the  17th,  and 
was  pre.sented  to  tlie  (^ueen  by  the  Speaker  on  the  20th, 
together  witii  a  recpnist  from  both  Houses  that  she  would 

1  Sie  iiou;  111  iMul  iif  this  vi)Iuine. 

2  Sec  Slryiie,   AnnaU  of  thS  Ueformnlini,  vol.  iii.  (2),  p.  500. 


158G-89.]  PARLIAMENT:    FIRST  DOUBLE  SUBSIDY.  35 

denounce  open  war  against  the   King  of    Spain  ;    after 
wliic'li  the  Parliament  was  dissolved. 

Bacon,  who  had  just  completed  his  twenty-eighth  year, 
and  was  now  a  "  Reader "  in  Gray's  Inn,  sat  in  this 
Parliament  for  Liverpool.  The  more  frequent  appear- 
ance of  his  name  in  the  Journals,  both  as  a  member  of 
Committees,  and  as  reporter  of  their  proceedings  to  the 
House,  attests  his  rising  importance.  But  the  other  pro- 
ceedings of  this  session  have  little  interest  for  us.  A  bill 
to  reform  certain  abuses  by  pvrveyors^  and  another  con- 
cerning p7'0cess  and  pleadings  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer, 
did  indeed  at  one  time  threaten  to  bring  Privilege  into 
collision  with  Prerogative  ;  the  discussion  being  inter- 
rupted by  a  message  from  the  Queen  ;  but  through  a 
conciliatory  demeanor  on  both  sides,  the  occasion  passed 
off  quietly.  For  the  rest,  the  House  appears  to  have  been 
chiefly  occupied  with  questions  of  Privilege  in  which  the 
Crown  did  not  care  to  meddle  ;  questions  concerning  elec- 
tions, attendance  of  members,  the  reporting  of  speeches 
out-of-doors,  and  the  like  ;  important  in  the  history  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  but  throwing  no  light  upon  the 
character  or  career  of  Bacon,  whom  we  are  now  to  fol- 
low into  a  new  subject,  the  interest  of  which  is  unhappily 
not  yet  worn  out. 

The  great  question  between  the  High  Church  and  the 
Nonconformists  (now  beginning  to  be  called  Puritans) 
was  no  longer  agitated  in  Parliament ;  the  quarrcds  be- 
tween the  two  being  suspended  for  the  time  by  the  com- 
mon danger  which  thi'eatened  both.  But  it  was  further 
than  ever  from  being  settled.  The  suppressive  and  ex- 
clusive policy  pursued  by  the  authorities  was  already 
yielding  its  natural  fruits.  The  leaders  of  the  reform, 
being  denied  a  hearing  in  the  great  council  of  the  nation, 
had  fallen  back  for  support  upon  the  ranks  of  their  own 
party.     The  preachers,  being  forbidden  to  preach  openly 


3g  ABUSES  IN  CHURCH.  [Book  I. 

met  in  secret  synods  and  conventicles.  The  licensed  press 
beino-  closed  to  their  writings,  a  secret  and  movable  print- 
ing apparatus,  evading  the  vigilance  of  Government  by 
shifting  rapidly  from  place  to  place,  scattered  anonymous 
publications  all  over  the  land,  —  the  more  licentious  be- 
cause published  in  defiance  of  authority,  and  the  more 
eagerly  sought  after  because  forbidden.  Hence  to  moder- 
ate projects  of  reform,  framed  to  avoid  reasonable  objec- 
tions on  the  part  of  the  Government,  succeeded  sweeping 
propositions  framed  to  conciliate  the  sympathy  aAd  sat- 
isfy the  desires  of  an  extreme  party  ;  to  grave  discussion 
of  principles,  fairly  urged  and  fairly  answered,  succeeded 
bitter  and  scurrilous  personalities  ;  to  the  fruits  of  gradual 
reform,  the  seeds  of  a  violent  revolution. 

Of  all  this  Bacon  had  been  an  attentive  and  anxious 
observer.     He  had  heard  at  Cambridge  the  beginnings  of 
the  controversy  between  the  High  Churchmen  and  the 
most  eminent  of    the  Nonconformists.     He  had  seen  in 
France  the  desolating  effects  of  religious  dissension  in  its 
later  stages.     He  had  hstened  in  the  Parliament  of  1584, 
to  debates  concerning  the  abuses  of  our  own  church-gov- 
ernment ;  had  heard  the  particulars  of  those  abuses  am- 
])ly   s(;t  forth   and  vehemently  disputed;    had    heard    of 
j)arislu's  served  by  ministers  unlearned  and  incompetent, 
(,r  not  served  at  all  ;  of  men  of  the  greatest  learning  and 
the  purest  lives  suspended  from  their  ministry  lor  object- 
ing to  wear  a  sur])lice,  or  for  refusing  to  subscribe  articles 
newly  devised,  not  imposed  by  tlu;  .statutes  of  the  realm, 
not  touching  any  vital  or  essential  jioints  of  doctrine;    of 
the  gravest  functions  of   bishops  delegated  to  ollicials  and 
c()mmissari(!S  ;  of  ministers  eonipellefl  to  answer  on   oath 
to  any  questions  which  the  l)islioi)s  might  think  lit    to  ask 
either  out  of  their  own  vague  suspicions  or  out  of  tlu;  sug- 
gestions of  common  rumor;  of  cxconnnuuication  abused 
into  an  ordinary  instrument  for  enforcing;  slight    |)oiiits  of 
discipline  or  exacting  fees  ;  of  the  sui)pression  by  author- 


1580-83.]         PROGRESS  OF  CHURCH  CONTROVERSIES.  37 

ity  of  those  conferences  and  exercises  among  the  clergy 
which  wei-e  best  fitted  to  instruct  and  practice  them  in 
the  duties  of  their  calling ;  of  non-residents  and  plural- 
ists  ;  and  much  else  of  the  kind.  He  had  heard  meas- 
ures for  the  redress  of  these  abuses  proposed  and  argued 
in  no  immoderate  or  unreasonable  spirit ;  had  seen  the 
grounds  upon  which  the  authorities  resisted  them  ;  had 
seen  all  free  discussion  of  them  peremptorily  suppressed ; 
and  had  no  doubt  formed  his  own  opinion  upon  the  mer- 
its of  the  controversy  and  the  issues  to  which  it  was  inev- 
itably leading.  He  had  seen  that,  though  the  principal 
demands  of  the  main  body  of  reformers  were  as  yet  mod- 
erate and  just  and  involved  no  violent  alteration,  the  ex- 
tremes were  already  beginning  to  assail  the  very  consti- 
tution of  the  Church,  and  to  erect  within  it  a  government 
by  synods,  —  that  is  to  say,  a  government  essentially 
democratical  ivithin  a  government  essentially  monarchical 
(a  proceeding  full  of  peril,  because,  as  the  two  could 
never  have  gone  at  the  same  pace,  one  must  before  long 
have  overthrown  the  other)  ;  and  it  must  have  been  clear 
enough  to  such  a  judgment  as  his,  that  unless  the  Church 
could  distinguish  and  detach  the  moderate 'from  the  ini- 
modei'ate,  they  would  be  continually  drawing  closer  to- 
gether, and  making  a  common  cause  of  it. 

The  authorities  of  the  Church,  indeed,  saw  nothing  of 
this.  To  them  the  Puritans  were  l)ut  a  turbulent  faction, 
which  was  to  be  suppressed  in  its  beginnings,  for  conces- 
sions would  but  embolden  them  to  make  further  demands. 
But  Bacon  knew  better.  He  knew  by  the  exanijde  of  his 
own  mother,  wdio  sympathized  with  the  cause  of  tlie  re- 
formers from  the  bottom  of  her  soul,  with  what  deptlis  of 
religious  emotion  it  was  allied,  and  that,  liow(_'ver  j)oor 
and  narrow  the  creed,  there  burned  at  the  centre  of  that 
cause  a  fire  of  authentic  faith,  which  an  attempt  to  sup- 
press by  denying  it  vent  might  raise  into  a  conflagration, 
put  could  never  put  out.     He  saw  (or  if  I  may  not  assume 


38  THE  MARPRELATE  CONTROVERSY.  [Book  I. 

that  lie  saw,  he  at  least  took  the  course  which  such  fore-  ' 
sight  would  have  suggested)  that  the  one  chance  for  the 
Church  was  to  understand  this  herself,  and  to  understand 
it  in  time,  and  thereupon  to  seek,  by  castiug  out  all  that 
was  evil  in  herself,  to  assimilate  and  draw  into  her  sys- 
tem all  that  was  good  in  them  ;-— a  course  which,  had 
it  been  commenced  soon  enough,  and  judiciously  fol- 
lowed out,  would  probably  have  converted  the  streaui 
which  not  many  years  after  burst  in  upon  her  like  a 
torrent  and  flooded  all  her  chambers,  into  a  source  of 
continual  supply,  health,  and  refreshment  ;  and  he  re- 
solved to  te-y  whether  a  w^ord  spoken  in  season  might  not 
do  something  to  guide  her  into  this  course. 

The  particular  occasion  which  moved  him  to  take  a 
part  in  the  dispute  was  the  Marprelate  controversy  ;  that 
disgraceful  pamphlet-war  which  raged  so  furiously  in 
1-588  and  1589,  between  the  revilers  of  the  bishops  on 
the  one  side,  and  the  revilers  of  the  Puritans  on  the  other, 
and  in  which  the  appeal  was  made  by  both  parties  to  the 
basest  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  vulgar.  Though 
this  was  the  natural  result  of  an  attempt  to  suppress  all 
legitimate  demonstration  of  opinion  through  Parliament, 
pulpit,  or  press,  it  was  not  the  less  to  be  deplored,  as 
tending  to  inflame  animosities,  deej)en  pn^judices,  and 
bring  both  parties  into  contempt.  The  first  attack,  which 
came  from  some  anonymous  and  ])robably  self-elected 
champion  of  the  Puritans,  under  the  assumed  name  of 
Martin  Marprelate,^  had  been  gravely  and  temperately 
answered  by  Thomas  Cooper,  Bishoj)  of  Winchester,  in 
a  ])am])hlet  entitled  "An  Admonition  to  the  People  of 
England;"  but  a~  cause  must  be  very  clear  and  unim- 
peachable which  can  maintain  itself  Ix'fon^  a  popular  au- 
ditory against  a  nameless  antagonist,  who  can  use  the 
fidl  license  of  slander  and  foul  language  without  any  per- 

1  One  IViiry,  a  Wilsliman,  was  apprehended,  tried  as  the  author  of  tho 
pamphlet,  and  (•xccuted   in  1503. 


158G-80.]      THE  MARPRELATE  CONTROVERSY.  39 

sonal  resi)()n.sil)Hity.  The  Admonition  may  luive  done 
something  to  correct  the  impressions  of  reasonable  men, 
if  any  such  there  were,  whose  opinions  had  been  influ- 
enced by  Marprelate;  but  to  the  controversy  it  served 
only  as  fresh  fuel,  and  was  quickly  replied  upon  by  fresh 
volumes  of  scurrility  and  abuse  ;  which  again  brought 
forth  to  the  rescue  of  the  bishops  a  new  kind  of  allies, 
whose  alliance  would  have  disgraced  the  clearest  cause,  — 
men  whose  best  weapon  was  the  vilest  slang  and  ribaldry 
of  the  stage. 

This  scandalous  contest  was  at  its  height  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1589,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  about  that  time 
that  Bacon  drew  up  (not  for  publication  apparently,  but 
for  circulation  in  manuscript)  that  "  Advertisement  touch- 
ing the  Controversies  of  the  Church  of  England,  "  which 
was  first  printed  as  a  separate  pamphlet  in  1640,  when 
the  Long  Parliament  was  busy  with  these  questions ; 
afterwards  by  Dr.  Rawley  in  "  The  Resuscitatio  "  (1657), 
and  again  as  a  separate  pamphlet  in  1663,  when  the 
question  of  toleration  to  Dissenters  was  raised  under 
Charles  II.,  a  paper  in  which  he  comes  forward  in  the 
character  of  a  peace-maker,  remonstrating  against  the 
conduct  of  both  sides ;  and  therefore  "  not  likely  to  be 
grateful  to  either  ;"  yet  trusting  that  his  views  would 
"  find  a  correspondency  in  their  minds  who  were  not  em- 
barked in  partiality,  and  which  loved  the  whole  better 
than  a  part.  " 

What  use  he  made  of  this  paper  at  the  time,  to  whom 
he  sent  copies,  or  whether  he  put  his  name  to  it,  I  have 
not  been  able  to  discover  ;  but  I  can  hardly  doubt  that 
he  showed  it  to  Burghley  and  Walsingham,  who  would 
naturally  concur  in  his  views  and  wish  to  spread  them. 
And  I  think  it  probable  that  this  led  to  the  employ- 
ment of  his  pen  in  counteracting  another  evil  consequence 
of  these  divisions ;  I  mean  the  unfavorable  interpretation 
which  was  likely  to  be  put  upon  them  abroad,  especially 


40  EFFECT  UPON   OPINION  ABROAD.  [Book  I. 

in  France,  with   reu^iiv.l  to  tlu;  stability  and  constancy  of 
the  Government.     The  progress  of  the  French  confusions 
had  in  the  spring  of  1589  thrown  the  King  into  the  arms 
of  the  Protestant  party,  and  he  was  now  at  war  with  tlie 
League  and  with  Spain.     "  The   world  is  marvellously 
changed,  "  writes  Burghley  on  the  2Tth  of  May,i  "  when 
we  true  Englishmen   have   cause,  for  our  own  quietness, 
to  wish    good  success  to  a  French    king  and  a  king  of 
Scots  ;  and  yet  they  both   differ   one  from   the  other  in 
profession   of   Religion ;  but  seeing  both   are  enemies  to 
our  enemies,  we  have  cause  to  join    with  them  in  these 
actions  against  our  enemies ;  and  this  is  the  work  of  God 
for  our  good,  for   which  the  Queen  and   us  all   are  most 
deeply  bound    to  acknowledge  his  miraculous  goodness, 
for  no  wit  of  man  could  otherwise  have  wn-ought  it.     At 
this  time  the  French  King's  party,  by  the  true  subjects 
of  his  crown,  both  Catholic  and  Protest:tnt,  doth  prosper 
in  every  place.  "     The  sympathy  thus  created  between 
England  and  France  in  the  latter  months  of  Henry  III.'s 
reif^n,   ripened    into   a  strict  and   cordial   alliance  Avhen 
Henry  of  Navarre,  himself  a  Protestant,  succeeded  to  the 
throne;  which   was  in    the  beginning  of   August,   1589. 
In  this  new   crisis  it   w^as    a  matter  of  great  importance 
to  the  common   cause,  that   no   needless   distrust  or  jn-ej- 
udice  should  be   excited  against   Elizabeth  in  the  minds 
either  of  the  Protestant  or  of  the  more  moderate  Catholic 
party  in  France,  by  her  dealings  with  the  religious  parties 
in  England;  and  some  communication  having  been  made 
to  Walsingham   on   the  subject   from   a  gentleman  con- 
nected  with  the  French   (government,   it  was  resolved   to 
improve  the  occasion  by  writing  him  a   Icttm-  in   whu^h 
the  true  course  of   licr  proceedings   should  be  set  forth 
and  justified.      Whetluu-  Bacon  had  anything  to  do  with 
the  suggestion  of   this  nu-asure,  1    cannot   say  ;  but  that 
be  was   employed  to    make  a  draugiit  of    the  proposed 

1  Letter  to  tlie  I'.iirl  (if  Shrewslhiry  :   Lodf^e,  vol.  ii.,  p-  373. 


1586-89.]  LETTER  TO   ARCHBISHOP   WIIITGIFT.  41 

letter  may  be;  inferred  fruni   the   circumstances   wliicli  I 
am  now  going  to  explain. 

I  find  in  the  "  Resnscitatio  "  the  following  letter  from 
Bacon  to  Archbishop  Whitgift:  — 

To  My  Lord  of  Canterbury. 

It  may  j^lease  your  Grace,  —  I  have  considered  the  ob- 
jections, perused  the  statutes,  and  framed  the  alterations, 
which  I  send  ;  still  keeping  myself  within  the  brevity  of 
a  letter  and  form  of  a  narration  ;  not  entering  into  a 
form  of  argument  or  disputation  :  For  in  my  poor  con- 
ceit it  is  somewhat  against  the  majesty  of  princes'  actions 
to  make  too  curious  and  striving  apologies ;  but  rather 
to  set  them  forth  plainly,  and  so  as  there  may  appear  an 
harmony  and  constancy  in  them,  so  that  one  part  up- 
holdeth  another.  And  so  I  wish  your  Grace  all  pros- 
perity. From  my  poor  lodging,  this,  etc. 
Your  Grace's  most  dutiful 

Pupil  and  Servant. 

This  letter  is  without  date  ;  nor  is  there  any  note  to 
explain  the  occasion  on  which  it  was  written,  or  the 
nature  of  the  inclosure  which  it  seems  to  have  conveyed. 
But  upon  a  careful  examination  of  the  words  it  clearly 
appears,  — 

1st,  that  Bacon  had  previously  submitted  to  Archbisliop 
Whitgift,  for  consideration,  the  draft  of  some  brief  narra- 
tive in  explanation  of  some  of  the  Queen's  actions. 

2dly,  that  the  object  of  it  was  to  justify  what  she  had 
done  ;  but  that  the  justification  was  implied  in  a  plain 
statement  of  the  facts,  without  the  help  of  arguments  or 
apologies. 

3dly,  that  the  justification  rested  upon  the  fact  that 
her  conduct  had  been  consistent. 

4thly,  that  the  narrative  included  a  reference  to  cer- 
tain statutes. 


42  WALSINGHAM'S  LETTKR.  [Book  I. 

Stilly,  that  tlie  paper  liad  been  sent  back  to  him  with 
some  objections,  and  was  now  returned  by  him  with  alter- 
ations made  by  himself  to  meet  them,  but  still  in  the 
same  form. 

If,  therefore,  a  paper  can  be  found  answering  this  de- 
scription in  all  points,  and  written  when  Whitgift  was 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  an  active  Privy  Coun- 
cillor, we  may  conclude  (if  not  with  absolute  certainty, 
yet  with  a  probability  almost  amounting  to  certainty), 
that  it  was  the  paper  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  letter  ; 
not  perhaps  in  exactly  the  same  shape  (for  other  alter- 
ations may  have  been  introduced  afterwards),  but  the 
same  substantially. 

Now,  precisely  such  a  paper  I  do  find  in  the  "  Scrinia 
Sacra  ;  "  that  is  to  say,  a  letter  addressed  by  Sir  Francis 
Walsingham  to  an  official  person  in  France,  containing 
an  explanation  in  a  narrative  form  of  the  Queen's  pro- 
ceedings towards  the  Catholics  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
Puritans  on  the  other;  framed  expressly  to  show  that 
her  course  had  been  consistent  throughout ;  including  a 
reference  to  two  statutes  ;  and  writt(m  before  the  6th  of 
April,  1590  (the  date  of  Walsingham's  death),  but  not 
before  1589  (for  it  has  an  obvious  allusion  to  the  Mar- 
prelate  libels)  ;  the  greater  part  of  which  letter,  I  should 
add  (as  a  circumstance  which,  taken  along  with  the 
rest,  may  be  considered  conclusive),  is  also  found  almost 
word  for  word  in  Bacon's  "  Observations  on  a  Libel," 
written  in  1592.     And  here  it  follows  :  — 

KIU    FRANCIS    WALSINOMAM,    SECIlKTAllY,  TO  MONSIKUR 
CMIITOY,    KKCIIETAIIY   OF    FKANCE.^ 
Siii,_  Whereas,   you     desire    to   b(^  advertised    touch- 
ing the  proc(M'(lings    hen;   in  ecclesiastical  eauHi-s,  because 

1  Srrium  Scirra,  cd.  1054.  p.  38.  Cnllal.-.l  will,  anotlirr  c-npy  in  Burnot'« 
Ifislun,  .,/■  the  n,r„rnu<i;.,„,  vol.  ii  ,  V  ■*<«.  ^^''"  'l<''<''-i'"'''  ''  "'*  '»  ''-t"'''  ^'■'^^^■° 
t.v  Wal.it'i-I.nni,  in   Vu■^^v\^,  •"  on.  MoM>i.M,r  ( 'litoy,  a  KiT.i.l.n.an  •   "..f  wluch 


1586-80.]  THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  THE  PAPISTS.  43 

you  seem  to  note  in  tliem  some  inconstancy  and  varia- 
tion, as  if  we  sometimes  inclined  to  one  side  and  some- 
times to  another,  and  as  if  that  clemency  and  lenity  were 
not  used  of  late  which  was  used  in  the  beginning ;  all 
which  you  impute  to  your  own  superficial  understand- 
ing of  the  affairs  of  this  state,  having,  notwithstanding, 
her  Majesty's  doings  in  singular  reverence,  as  the  real 
pledges  which  she  hath  given  unto  the  world  of  her  sin- 
cerity in  religion  and  of  her  wisdom  in  government  well 
raeriteth  ;  I  am  glad  of  this  occasion  to  impart  that  little 
I  know  in  that  matter  to  you,  both  for  your  own  satis- 
faction and  to  the  end  you  may  make  use  thereof  to- 
wards any  that  shall  not  be  so  modestly  and  so  reasona- 
bly minded  as  you  are. 

I  find,  therefore,^  that  her  Majesty's  proceedings  have 
been  grounded  upon  two  principles  :  — 

1.  The  one,  that  consciences  are  not  to  be  forced,  but 
to  be  won  and  reduced  by  the  force  of  truth,  with  the 
aid  of  time  and  the  use  of  all  good  means  of  instruction 
and  persuasion. 

2.  The  other,  that  the  causes  of  conscience,  when  they 
exceed  their  bounds  and  grow  to  be  matter  of  faction, 
lose  their  nature  ;  and  that  sovereign  princes  ought  dis- 
tinctly to  punish  the  practice  or  contempt,  though  col- 
ored with  the  pretense  of  conscience  and  religion. 

According  to  these  principles,  her  Majesty  at  her 
coming  to  the  Crown,  utterly  disliking  the  tyranny  of 
Rome,  which  had  used  by  terror  and  rigor  to  seek 
commandment  of  men's  faiths  and  consciences,  though 
as  a  prince  of  great  wisdom  and  magnanimity,  she  suf- 
fered but  the  exei'cise  of  one  religion,  yet  her  proceed- 

(he  says)  I  have  seen  an  Englisli  copy,  taken  (as  is  said)  from  the  orig- 
inal." Both  these  copies  contain  inaccuracies ;  but  each  helps  to  correct  the 
other. 

1  The  whole  passage  which  follows,  down  to  "adiiere  to  her  enemies,"  was 
afterwards  incorporated,  with  a  few  slight  variations  and  insertions,  into  Ba- 
con's Obsei^ations  on  a  Libel,  1592. 


44  THE  GOVERNMENT   AND   THE   rAlMSTS.  [Book  I. 

ing  towards  the  Papists  was  with  great  lenity,  expecting 
the  good  effects  which  time  might  work  in  them.     And 
therefore  her  INIajesty  revived  not  the  Liws  made  in  the 
twenty-eighth  and  thirty-fifth  year  of  her  father's  reign, 
whereby  the  oath  of  allegiance  might  have  been  offered 
at  the  king's  pleasure  to  any  subject,  though  he  kept 
his  conscience  never  so  modestly  to  himself  ;  and  the  re- 
fusal to  take  the  same  oath  without  further  circumstance 
was  made  treason.      But  contrariwise  her  Majesty,  not 
likincr  to  make  windows  into    men's    hearts  and    secret 
thoughts  except  the  abundance  of  them  did  overflow  into 
overt  and  express  acts  or  affirmations,  tempered  her  law 
so  as  it    restraineth    only  manifest  disobedience,  in  im- 
pugning and  impeaching  advisedly  and  maliciously  her 
Majesty's  supreme  power,  and  maintaining  and  extolling 
a    foreign    jurisdiction.      And  as    for    the    oath,    it  was 
altered   by  her  majesty  into  a  more  grateful  form  ;  the 
harshness  of  the  name  and  aj^pellation  of  supreme  head 
was    removed,  and  the  penalty  of    the    ivfusal    thereof 
turned  only  into  disablement  to   take   any  promotion  or 
to  exercise  any  charge  ;  and   y.'t  with    liberty  of   being 
re-invested    therein  if    any  man    should    accept  thereof 
durin-  his  life.     But  after,  whrn  Pius  (^.iutus  had  ex- 
comnninieated  her  Majesty,  and  th.   liulls  ..f   Hxeonimu- 
nication  were  published  in  Lon.lon,  whereby  her  Majesty 
Nvas  in  a  sort  proscribed;    an.l   that  thereupon   as  up..u 
apri.H.ipal   motive  or  preparative  followed  the  rebellion 
in   the    North  ;  vet  because  the   ill   humors  of  the  reabn 
were  bv  that  rebellion  i.artly  purge.l,  a.ul  that  she  feared 
at  that  time  no  foreign  invasion,  an.l   mueh  less  the  at- 
tempt   of    any  within    the  realm    not    barked    by   some 
potent   succor     from   without,    she    contented    herself    to 
make  a  law  against  that   special   case  of  l)ringing  m  or 
publishing  ..f  any  P>ulls  ..,•   the   like  instruments ;  where- 
„uto  was  adde.l  a  prohibition,  upon   pain  not  of  treason, 
hut    of  an     inferior  degree    of    punishment,    against    the 


158G-89.]  TIIK   (JOVERNMENT  AND   THE   TAriSTS.  46 

bringing  in  of  A(j7)us  Del,  hallowed  beads,  and  such  other 
mercliandise  of  Rouie.  as  are  well  known  not  to  be  any 
essential  part  of  the  Romish  religion,  but  onl}^  to  be 
used,  in  practice  as  love-tokens  to  enchant  the  people's 
affections  from  their  allegiance  to  their  natural  sovereign. 
In  all  other  points  her  Majesty  continued  her  former 
lenity.  But  when  about  the  twentieth  year  of  her  reign 
she  bad  discovered  in  the  King  of  Spain  an  intention  to 
invade  her  dominions,  and  that  a  principal  point  of  the 
plot  was  to  prepare  a  party  within  the  realm  that  might 
adhere  to  the  foreigner,  and  that  the  seminaries  began 
to  blossom  and  to  send  forth  daily  priests  and  professed 
men,  who  should  by  vow  taken  at  shrift  reconcile  her 
subjects  from  their  obedience,  yea  and  bind  many  of 
them  to  attempt  against  her  Majesty's  sacred  person  ; 
and  that  by  the  poison  which  the}'  spread,  the  humors 
of  most  Papists  were  altered,  and  that  they  were  no 
more  Papists  in  conscience  and  of  softness,  but  Papists  in 
faction  ;  then  were  there  new  laws  made  for  the  punish- 
ment of  such  as  should  submit  themselves  to  such  recon- 
cilements or  renunciations  of  obedience.  And  because  it 
was  a  treason  carried  in  the  clouds  and  in  wonderful 
secrecy,  and  came  seldom  to  light,  and  tliat  there  was 
no  presumption  thereof  so  great  as  the  recusance  to  come 
to  divine  service ;  because  it  was  set  down  by  tlieir 
decrees  that  to  come  to  church  before  reconcilement 
was  to  live  in  schism,  but  to  come  to  church  after  recon- 
cilement, was  absolutely  heretical  and  damnable  ;  there- 
fore there  were  added  new  laws  containing  a  punishment 
pecuniary  against  such  recusants,  not  to  enforce  con- 
science, but  to  enfeeble  and  impoverish  the  means  of 
tliose  to  whom  it "  rested  indifferent  and  ambiguous, 
whether  they  were  reconciled  or  no.  And  when,  not- 
withstanding all  this  provision,  this  poison  was  dispersed 
so  secretly,  as  that  there  was  no  means  to  stay  it  Ixit  by 
restraining  the  merchants  that  brought  it  in,  then  lastly 


46  THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  THE  PURITANS.  [Book  I. 

there,  was  added  another  law  wliereb}'  such  seditious 
priests  of  the  new  erection  were  exiled,  and  those  that 
were  at  that  time  within  the  land  shipped  over,  and  so 
commanded  to  keep  hence  upon  pain  of  treason. 

This  hath  been  the  proceeding  with  that  sort,  though 
intermingled  not  only  with  sundry  examples  of  her  Maj- 
esty's grace  towards  such  as  in  her  wisdom  she  knew  to 
be  Papists  in  conscience  and  not  in  faction,  but  also  with 
an  ordinary  mitigation  towards  the  offenders  in  the  high- 
est degree  convicted  b}-^  law,  if  they  would  but  protest 
that  in  case  this  realm  should  be  invaded  with  a  foreign 
army  by  the  Pope's  authority,  for  the  Catholic  cause,  as 
they  term  it,  they  would  take  part}'  with  her  ISIajesty 
and  not  adhere  to  her  enemies. 

For  the  other  part,  which  have  been  offensive  to  this 
state,  though  in  another  degree  ;  which  named  themselves 
Reformers,  and  we  commonly  call  Puritans  :  this  hath 
been  the  proceeding  towards  them.  A  great  while,  when 
they  inveighed  against  sucli  abuses  in  the  church  as  plu- 
ralities, non-residence,  and  the  like,  their  zeal  was  not 
condemned,  only  tlieir  violence  was  sometimes  censured  ; 
when  they  refused  the  use  of  some  ceremonies  and  rites 
as  superstitious,  they  were  tolerated  with  much  conni- 
vency and  gentleness;  yea,  when  they  called  in  question 
the  superiority  of  bishops,  and  jiretended  to  bring  a  de- 
mocracy into  the  church,  yet  tlieir  propositions  were 
lieard,  considered,  and  by  contrary  writings  debated  and 
discussed.  Yet  all  this  while  it  was  perceived  that  their 
course  was  dangerous  and  very  j)0])ular.  As  because  Pa- 
pistry was  odious,  tiu'ref(n*e  it  was  ever  in  their  mouths 
that  they  sought  to  j)urge  the  church  from  the  relics  of 
Pop(;ry  ;  a  thing  acce})table  to  the  people,  who  love  ever 
to  run  from  one  extreme  to  another.  Because  multitudes 
of  rogues  and  poverty  were  an  eyesore  and  dislike  to 
every  man,  therefore  they  put  it  into  the  people's  head 
that  if  discipline  were  planted,  there  should  be  no  beggars 


1586-89.]  THE   GOVERNMENT   AND   THE    PURITANS.  47 

nor  vagabonds  ;  a  thing  vei-y  plausible.  And  in  like 
manner  they  promised  the  people  many  other  impossible 
wonders  of  their  discipline.  Besides,  thej'^  opened  the 
people  a  way  to  government  by  their  consistory  and  pres- 
bytery ;  a  thing  though  in  consequence  no  less  prejudicial 
to  the  liberties  of  private  men  than  to  the  sovereignty  of 
princes,  yet  in  the  first  show  ver}'  popular.  Nevertheless 
this  (except  it  were  in  some  few  that  entered  into  ex- 
treme contempt)  was  borne  with,  because  they  pretended 
but  in  dutiful  manner  to  make  propositions,  and  to  leave 
it  to  the  providence  of  God  and  the  authority  of  the  mag- 
istrate. But  now  of  late  years,  when  there  issued  from 
them  a' colony  of  those  that  affirmed  the  consent  of  the 
magistrate  was  not  to  be  attended  ;  when,  under  pretense 
of  a  concession  to  avoid  slanders  and  imputations,  they 
combined  themselves  by  classes  and  subscriptions  ;  when 
they  descended  into  that  vile  and  base  means  of  defacing 
the  government  of  the  church  by  ridiculous  pasquils ; 
when  they  began  to  make  many  subjects  in  doubt  to  take 
an  oath,  which  is  one  of  the  fundamental  parts  of  justice 
in  this  land  and  in  all  places  ;  when  they  began  both  to 
vaunt  of  the  strength  and  number  of  their  partisans  and 
followers,  and  to  use  comminations  that  their  cause  would 
prevail  though  with  uproar  and  violence ;  then  it  ap- 
peared to  be  no  more  zeal,  no  more  conscience,  but  mere 
faction  and  division  ;  and  therefore,  though  the  state  were 
compelled  to  hold  somewhat  a  harder  hand  to  restrain 
them  than  before,  yet  it  was  with  as  great  moderation  as 
the  peace  of  the  church  and  state  could  permit.  And 
therefore,  sir,  to  conclude,  consider  uprightly  of  these 
matters,  and  you  shall  see  her  Majesty  is  no  temporizer 
in  religion.  It  is  not  the  success  abroad,  nor  the  change 
of  servants  here  at  home,  can  alter  her  ;  only  as  the 
things  themselves  alter,  so  she  applieth  her  religious  wis- 
dom to  methods  correspondent  unto  them  ;  still  retaining 
the  two  rules  before  mentioned,  in  dealing  tenderly  with 


48  ATTTHOKSIIIP  OF  THE  LETTER.  FBook  I. 

consciences  and  yet  in  discovering  faction  from  conscience 
and  softness  from  singularity.     Farewell. 
Your  loving  Friend, 

Francis  Walsingham. 

If  this  letter  was  really  drawn  up  by  Bacon  (of  which, 
for  the  reasons  above  stated,  I  have  myself  no  doubt),  it 
is  interesting  as  the   earliest  specimen  we  have  of  his 
taste,  judgment,  and  policy  in  conducting  the  defense  of 
the   government   against   popular  imputations  ;  the   best 
policy,  provided  only  that  the  case  of  the  govermnent  be 
good  enough  to  bear  it.     It  is  to  be  remembered  indeed, 
that  it  was  not  written  in  his  own  name,  and  tliat  his 
was  not  the  last  judgment  which  was  to  be  satisfied. 
Whitgift,  as  well  as  Walsingham,  had  a  strong  personal 
interest  in  the  matter,  nor  did  he  want  either  authority 
or  opportunity  to  correct  his  old  pupil's  exercise.     If  the 
original   manuscript   should   ever  be   discovered,  I  think 
traces  will  be  found  here  and  there,  but  especially  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  last   sentence  but  two,  where  the 
style  and   the  logic  both    halt  a  httle,  of  the  Primate's 
hand.     In  the  main,  however,  it  bears  both  in  conce})tion 
and  execution   all    the   marks   of   13acon's    characteristic 

manner. 

I  have  connected  it  with  the  "  Advertisement  touching 
the  Controversies  of  the  Church,"  because  the  subjects 
being  80  nearly  related,  one  employment  may  have  sug- 
gested the  other,  lint  there  is  another  way  in  which 
this  latter  task  may  have  fallen  naturally  to  Bacon.  His 
broth(n-  Anthony  was  still  in  France,  carrying  on  an  ac- 
tive correspondence  with  many  eminent  lu-rsons  tluu-e, 
and  also  with  Walsingham  at  linmc  It  is  not  at^all  un- 
likely that  M.  Critoy's  cMiininniciition  came  to  Walsing- 
ham"through  his  and  his  lunthn's  hands:  in  which  case 
the  rest  wouhl  follow  nnliunlly.  Who  this  M.  ('ritoy 
was  I  have  not  been   abl<-   t..   U'ani  ;   but    this   is  not   ma- 


1586-890      GRANT  OF  CLERKSHIP  OF  STAR  CHAMBER.  49 

terial,  except  in  so  far  as  it  might  help  to  fix  the  exact 
date.  The  letter  explains  itself,  and  has  the  same  value 
for  us,  to  whomsoever  addressed. 

It  may  be  worth  observing  that,  though  the  view  here 
taken  of  the  Queen's  proceedings  towards  the  Catholics^  is 
the  same  which  Bacon  maintained  to  the  end  of  his  life, 
and  took  pains  to  impress  upon  posterity  (see  the  "  In 
Felicem  Meraoriam  Elizabeths  "  ^),  yet  with  regard  to  the 
policy  of  her  dealing  with  the  Puritans  (except  on  one  oc- 
casion, where  he  denies  that  breaches  of  the  law  and  dis- 
turbances of  church  and  state  on  that  side  had  been  al- 
lowed to  go  unpunished),  he  was,  so  far  as  I  know,  silent. 
And  the  truth  I  take  to  be  that,  after  the  year  1500,  he 
could  not  have  said  that  her  proceedings  towards  them 
had  been  "  with  as  great  moderation  as  the  peace  of  the 
church  and  state  would  permit." 

From  this  time  till  the  latter  part  of  1591,  I  find  no 
other  composition  of  Bacon's  ;  nor  any  important  ])iece 
of  news  concerning  him,  except  the  following  entry  in  a 
note-book  of  Burghley's,  dated  October  29th,  1589:  "A 
grant  of  the  office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  Counsel  in  the 
Star  Chamber  to  Francis  Bacon."  It  was  procured  for 
him  by  Burghley,  and  the  office  was  a  valuable  one ; 
worth  <£  1,600  a  year,  and  executed  by  deputy.  It  was 
only  the  reversion,  however,  that  was  granted  to  him, 
which  did  not  fall  in  for  twenty  years. 

Occasional  allusions  in  Ids  brother's  correspondence 
show  that  he  continued  as  before  at  Gray's  Inn,  but  tell 
us  little  or  nothing  of  his  occupations.  During  this  in- 
terval, however,  it  must  have  been  that  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  Earl  of  Essex  ;  an  acquaintance  which 
had  so  great  an  influence  upon  his  after-life  that  what  [ 
have  to  say  concerning  the  commencement  of  it  may  fitly 
open  a  new  chapter. 

1  The  Warks  of  Francis  Bacon,  vol.  ii.,  pt.  1,  page  413. 
VOL.  I.  4 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A.  D.  1590-1592.     ^TAT.  30-32. 

When,  or  under  what  circumstances,  the  acquaintance 
between  Bacon  and  the  Earl  of  Essex  began,  I  cannot  ex- 
actly learn.     In  his  brother's  papers  I  find  no  allusion  to 
it  earlier  than  February,  1591-92,  by  which  time  it  had 
ripened  into  intimacy ;  and  since  Essex  had  been  engaged 
in  France  during  the  latter  half  of  1591,  as  commander 
of  the  forces  sent  to  assist  Henry  IV.,  the  commencement 
of  the  acquaintance  cannot  well  be  dated  later  than  the 
preceding  July.^     Essex  was  then  twentj'-three,  and  had 
been  for  some  years  high  in  the  Queen's  favor.     In  1585 
and  1586,  he  had  served  with  distinction  under  the  Earl 
of  Leicester  in  Holland.     In  1587,  the  Queen  had  made 
him  her  Master  of  the  Horse.     In  1588,  on  occasion  of 
the  Spanish  invasion,  she  had  appoint  t^-d  hi  in  General  of 
the  Horse.     In  1589,  when  he  returned  ivom  the  expedi- 
tion to  Portugal  in   aid  of  Don  Antonio,  which   he  had 
joined  against  her  orders,  she  had  received  him,  in  spite 
of  his  disobedience,  with  greater  favor  than  ever.     Had 
this  been  all,  a  man  in  Bacon's  position  could  not  but 
be  gUid  of  his  friendship,  and  their  common  relation  to 
Pjurgidey  (to  whose  guardianship  Essex  iiad   been  espe- 
cially bequeathed  by  his  father  <m   liis  deathhed)  woul.l 
naturally  bring  them  together,     r.ul  Hie  attraction  wiii.li 
di-ew  them  to\var<ls  eacli    other  was   not   of   that  or<liii;iry 

1  A  l.ltcr  from  Uncoii  to  tlic  K.arl  of  Leici-stcr,  a>kiii-  for  his  fiirllioruiici;  of 
Homc  suit  whioh  llio  Karl  of  Essex  had  moved  in  his  beiialf,  lias  since  bc.-ii 
'ound,  —  writti'ii  in  1588. 


1590-92.]  THE  EARL  OF  ESSEX.  51 

kind.  Bacon  had  many  things  at  heart  besides  the  ad- 
vancement of  his  own  fortune  ;  and  there  was  promise  in 
Essex  of  something  far  greater  than  ascendancy  in  the 
Queen's  favor.  Except  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  no  man  had 
appeared  on  that  stage  who  seemed  so  hkely,  if  he  at- 
tained great  power,  to  make  a  great  use  of  it ;  esj^ecially 
in  those  things  which  Bacon  was  most  anxious  about,  but 
for  wliich  he  liad  Uttle  reason  to  expect  encouragement 
in  high  phices.  How  to  steer  the  State  through  the  dan- 
gers and  difficulties  of  the  present  time,  none  knew  better 
then  Walsingham  and  Burghley  ;  whose  skill  and  policy, 
along  with  their  offices,  Robert  Cecil  seemed  destined  to 
inherit.  How  to  maintain  the  dignity  of  the  Crown,  the 
greatness  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  authority  of  the  exist- 
ing laws,  —  how  to  attract,  attach,  and  use  the  ablest 
servants  both  for  peace  and  war,  —  no  one  knew  better 
than  tlie  Queen  herself.  But  her  cares  did  not  extend 
beyond  her  own  people  and  her  own  times.  Though  one 
of  the  greatest  of  governors,  she  was  no  great  legislator. 
Though  one  of  the  most  learned  of  women,  she  was  no 
great  patroness  of  learning,  except  where  (as  in  the  church 
and  the  law)  she  wanted  it  for  an  instrument  to  govern 
with.  Though  the  champion  of  Protestantism,  and  with- 
out any  shade  of  religious  bigotry,  she  took  no  care  to  pro- 
vide for  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  next  generation,  by  mak- 
ing room  within  the  church  for  those  varieties  of  opinion 
which  the  spirit  of  Protestantism  was  sure  to  develop. 
Though  a  reverencer  of  the  laws  herself,  and  well  aware 
that  the  reverence  of  the  people  for  the  laws  was  the 
foundation  and  life  of  government,  she  took  but  little 
interest  in  projects  for  the  reformation  of  them,  by  cor- 
recting abuses,  removing  uncertainties,  simplifying  com- 
])lexities,  and  settling  principles.  Whatever  savored  of 
"speculation'"  she  regarded  with  indifference  or  distrust, 
iis  a  disqualification  for  practical  service.  And  as  for  the 
recovery  to   Man   of   his  lost   dominion   over  Nature  by 


52  THE  EARL  OF   ESSEX.  i^^^'^  I- 

means  of  Knowledge,  she  had  enough  to  do  in  maintain- 
mcr  the  dominion  of  England  withhi  its  own  shores  by 
means  of  vigilance  and  state  policy.  Neither  to  her  there- 
fore nor  to  her  ministers  could  Bacon  have  looked  tor 
much  encouragement  in  the  prosecution  of  those  larger 
reforms  in  philosophy,  in  letters,  in  church,  in  state  upon 
^vhich  his  mind  was  brooding,  and  which  he  certamly  be- 
lieved to  be  practicable  if   the  Government  would   take 

them  in  hand. 

But  the  rise  of  a  man  like  Essex  offered  a  new  and  un- 
expected chance.     He  was  a  man  of  so  many  gitts  and  so 
many  virtues,  that  even  now,  when  his  defects  and  the 
issue  to  which  they  carried  him  are  fully  known,  it  stdl 
seems  possible  that  under  more  favorable  accidents  he 
might  have  realized  all  the  promise  of  his  morning  :  then 
it  must  have  seemed  more  than  possible.     From  his  boy- 
hood he  had  been  an  eager  reader  and  a  patient  listener. 
The  first  year  after  he  left  Cambridge  he  spent  happily 
in  studious  retirement.     His  knowledge  was  already  con- 
siderable, his  literary  abilities  great,  his  views  liberal  and 
comprehensive,  his  speech  persuasive,  his  respect  for  in- 
tellectual qualifications  in  other  men  earnest  and.  unat- 
fected      His  religious  impressions  were  deep,  and  without 
being  addicted  to  any  of  the  religious  parties  in  the  state, 
he  had  points  of  sympathy  with  them  all.     His  temper 
was  hopeful,  ardent,  enterprising  ;   his  will   strong    his 
opinions  decided  ;  yet  he  was  at  the  same  time  singular  y 
patient  of  oppugnant  advice,  and  liked  it  the  better  the 
more  frankly  it  was  given.     He  had  that  true  generosity 
,f  nature  whi<-h  appeals  to  all  human  hearts,  because  it 
feels  an  interest  in  all  human  things  ;  and  whu-h  made 
l.i.n  a  favorite,  without  any  :ud  from  dissimulations  and 
plausibilities,  at  once  with  th-  people,  the  army    and  the 
n,„.en       A  .hara.-t.-r  rare  at  all  liu.es  and   in   all  i.la.^es  ; 
nu-st   ran.   In    surh  a  station   as   h.  seemed  destined   thus 
,,nly  to  oecM.i-v  ;  and  p.o.nisi.,;^  fruits  pn.portioi.ably  rare, 


1590-92.]  THE  EARL  OF  ESSEX.  53 

if  it  might  only  escape  the  dangers  incident  to  an  over- 
forward  season.  It  was  easy  for  Bacon  to  see  that  here 
was  a  man  capable  b}^  nature  of  entering  heartily  into  all 
his  largest  speculations  for  the  good  of  the  world,  and 
placed  by  accident  in  a  position  to  realize,  or  help  to  re- 
alize, them.  It  was  natural  to  hope  that  he  would  do  it. 
The  favorite  of  a  mighty  Queen,  herself  the  favorite  of  a 
mighty  nation  ;  with  a  heart  for  all  that  was  great,  noble, 
and  generous  ;  an  ear  open  to  all  freest  and  faithfullest 
counsel ;  an  understanding  to  apprehend  and  appreciate 
all  wisdom  ;  an  imagination  great  enough  to  entertain 
new  hopes  for  the  human  race  ;  without  any  shadow  of 
bigotry  or  narrowness  ;  without  any  fault  as  yet  apparent, 
except  a  chivalrous  impetuosity  of  character  ;  the  very 
grace  of  youth,  and  the  ver}'  element  out  of  which,  when 
tempered  by  time  and  experience,  all  moral  greatness  and 
all  extraordinary  and  enterprising  virtue  derive  their  vital 
energy  ;  in  times  when  the  recent  agitations  of  society 
had  stirred  men's  minds  to  hope  and  dare,  and  exercised 
them  in  all  kinds  of  active  enterprise  ;  he  must  have 
seemed  in  the  eyes  of  Bacon  like  the  hope  of  the  world. 
We  need  not  seek  any  further  surely,  to  account  for  the 
attachment  which  soon  sprang  up  between  the  two.  The 
proffered  friendship  and  confidence  of  such  a  man  —  what 
could  Bacon  do  but  embrace  it  as  frankly  as  it  was  of- 
fered ?  Such  a  friend  and  counsellor  seemed  to  be  the 
one  thing  whicli  such  a  spirit  stood  in  need  of.  If  Essex 
seemed  like  a  man  expressly  made  to  realize  the  hopes  of 
a  new  world,  so  Bacon  may  seem  to  have  been  expressly 
made  for  the  guardian  genius  of  such  a  man  as  Essex. 
And  thus  their  acquaintance  began,  about  the  time  at 
which  we  are  now  arrived;  in  1590,  probably,  or  the  early 
part  of  1591.  For  "I  held  at  that  time,"  wrote  Bacon 
fourteen  years  after,  "  my  Lord  to  be  the  fittest  instru- 
ment to  do  good  to  the  state  :  and  therefore  I  applied 
myself    to   him    in   a   numner  which    I  think  happeneth 


54         RETURN  TO  ENGLAND   OF  ANTHONY   BACON\        [R<>ok  I. 

rarely  among  men  ;  for  I  diel  not  only  labor  carefully  and 
industriously  in  that  he  set  me  about,  whether  it  wei-e 
matter  of  advice  or  otherwise  ;  but  neglecting  the  Queen  s 
service,  mine  own  fortune,  and  in  a  sort  my  vocation,  I 
did  nothing  but  advise  and  ruminate  with  myself  to  the 
best  of  ray  understanding,  propositions  and  memorials  of 
anything  that  might  concern   his  Lordship's  honor,  for- 
tune, or  service.    And  when,  not  long  after  I  had  entered 
into  this  course,  mv  brother,  master  Anthony  Bacon,  came 
from  beyond  the  seas,  being  a  gentleman  whose  ability 
the  world  taketh  knowledge  of  for  matters  of  state  spe- 
cially foreign,  I  did  likewise  knit  his  service  to  be  at  my 
Lord's  disposing."  ^  ,      .      • 

Anthony  Bacon  arrived  in  England  in  the  beginnmg 
of  1502  :  and  was  met  by  his  friend  Nicliolas  Faunt  with 
a  letter  from  his  mother  (dated  February  3d),  full  of 
maternal  welcome  and  advice,  while  his  brother  was  pre- 
paring his  chambers  in  Gray's  Lm  to  receive  luni.  Ho 
was  in  vervbad  health;  crippled  with  gout;  but  well 
furnished  with  information  concerning  foreign  affairs, 
giithered  during  his  ten  years'  residence  abroad,  and  kept 
alive  by  an  extensive  correspondence  with  able  intelli- 
gencers in  different  parts  of  Europe  ;  the  benefit  of  wh.rh, 
hitherto  enjoyed  by  Burghley,  he  not  long  after  trans- 
ferred to  Essex. 

In  the  meantime  Francis's  plans  with  regard  to  Ins 
own  fortune  remained  the  same  ;  but  unhappily  the  pros- 
pect of  realizing  them  did  not  improve.  He  had  ]ust 
completed  his  thirty-first  year.  lb.  had  been  a  Bencher 
of  his  Lni  for  nearly  five  years,  a  Reader  for  nearly  three  ; 
but  I  do  not  find  that  he  was  getting  into  practice. 
His  main  object  still  was  to  fiu.l  ways  and  means  for 
prose<-uting  his  great  philosnphie;>l  enterprise;  his  hope 
.,nd  wish  still  was  to  obtain  tl.escby  some  olfiee  under  the 
(loven.ment,  from   which   he  n.ight  derive   both  position 

'    A,M.lo;;v. 


1590-92.]  OBJECTS,    HOPES,   AND  WISHES.  55 

in  the  ^yorld  which  would  carry  influence,  employment 
in  the  State  which  Avould  enable  him  to  serve  his  coun- 
try in  her  need,  and  income  sufiicient  for  his  pui'poses, 
—  without  spending  all  his  time  in  professional  drudgery. 
Nearly  six  years  had  passed  since  his  last  application  to 
Burghley  (the  last  which  we  know  of),  and  his  hopes 
were  no  nearer  their  accomplishment.  The  clerkship  of 
the  Star  Chamber  did  not  help  ;  for  it  was  not  in  posses- 
sion nor  likely  to  be  for  many  years ;  it  was  but  as 
"  another  man's  ground  buttailing  upon  his  house  ;  which 
might  mend  his  prospect  but  did  not  fill  his  barn."  ^  It 
has  been  said  indeed  that  before  this  time  the  Queen  had 
appointed  him  "  one  of  her  connsel  learned  extraor- 
dinary ;  "  but  even  if  this  be  true  (which,  from  the  ab- 
sence of  all  contemporary  allusions  to  a  distinction  so 
unusual,  I  doubt),  it  does  not  alter  the  case  ;  for  whether 
he  obtained  it  sooner  or  later,  it  was  an  honor  only,  with- 
out any  emolument  appertaining.  2  The  entrance  upon 
a  new  decade  reminded  him  of  the  swiftness  of  time  and 
the  slowness  of  his  fortune,  and  suggested  a  fresh  remem- 
brance to  Burghley  of  his  hopes  and  objects  ;  the  rather, 
perhaps,  because,  with  such  a  friend  at  Court  as  Essex, 
there  was  now  a  fresh  chance  of  favorable  entertainment 
for  them.  The  following  letter  needs  no  further  elucida- 
tion ;  and  as  I  have  no  means  of  determining  the  date  of 
it,  except  from  the  allusion  it  contains  to  his  "  thirty-one 

1  His  own  expression,  as  given  by  Rawley,   Works,  vol.  i.,  Part  I.,  p.  41. 

2  The  best  authority  for  dating  this  appointment  so  early  is  the  expression 
used  by  Dr.  Rawley  in  the  Latin  version  of  iiis  Life  of  Bacon,  wliich  was  pub- 
lislied  after  tiie  English  one,  and  occasionally  differs  from  it.  "■  Noifhun 
tyroctn'mm  in  lege  egressiis,  a  regina  in  consilium  suum  doctnm  extraordinarium 
adscitus  est."  But  this  may  possibly  have  been  an  inference  drawn  from 
Bacon's  Letter  to  P.urghley  of  the  18tli  of  October,  1580  (mentioned  above,  p. 
H)  of  which  Dr.  Ilawley  did  not  know  the  date.  I  am  told  also  that  in 
legal  phraseology  a  barrister's  ti/rocinitim  continues  until  he  is  called  to  be  a 
Serjeant  ;  and  that  Rawley  niay  only  have  meant  that  Bacon  was  made  a  Q.  O. 
wiihinit  being  first  made  a  Serjeant.  Kawley  however  was  a  scholar  and  not  a 
lawyer,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  he  used  the  word  in  its  classical  sense. 
The  import  of  the  word  extraordiiiarij  he  evidently  misunderstood.  See  Works. 
vol.  i.   Part  L,  p.  38,  note  6. 


56  REMEMBRANCE  TO  BURGHLEY.  [Book  I. 

years,"   I    place    it  here  at  the  point   when   he  entered 
upon  his  thirty-second. 

To  MT  LoKD  Treasurer  Burghley. 

My  Lord,  —  With  as   much  confidence  as  mine  own 
honest  and  faithful  devotion  unto  your  service  and  your 
honorable  correspondence   unto  me  and  my  poor  estate 
can  breed    in  a  man,  do  I    commend   myself   unto  your 
Lordship      I  wax  now  somewhat  ancient ;  one  and  thirty 
years  is  a   great   deal    of    sand  in  the  hour-glass.     My 
health,  I  thank  God,  I  find  confirmed  ;  and  I  do  not  fear 
that   action  shall  impair  it,  because  I  account  my  ordi- 
nary course  of  study  and  meditation  to   be  more  painful 
than  most  parts  of   action  are.     I  ever  bare  a   mmd  (m 
some  middle  place   that  I   could  discharge)  to  serve  her 
IMaiesty  ;  not  as  a  man  born  under  Sol,  that  loveth  honor  ; 
nor  under  Jupiter,  that  loveth  business  (for  the  contem- 
plative planet  carrieth  me  away  wholly)  ;  but  as  a  man 
born   under  an   excellent   Sovereign,   that   deserveth  the 
dedication  of   all  men's  abilities.     Besides,  I  do  not  find 
in  myself  so  much  self-love,  but  that  the  greater  parts  of 
my  thoughts   are   to  deserve  well  (if  I  were  able)  of  my 
friends,  and  namely  of  your   l.onlship  ;    who  being  the 
Atlas  of  this  commonwealth,  the  honor  of  my  house,  and 
the  second  founder  of  my  po..r  estate,  I  am   tied  by  all 
duties,  both  of  a  good  patriot,  and  of  an   uuNvorthy  kms- 
man,   and   of  an  obliged   servant,   to  employ  whatsoever 
I  am  to  do  you  service.     Again,  the  meanness  of  my  es- 
tate doth  somewhat  move  me  :  for  though  I  .anuot  accuse 
n,vs.-lf    that    I   am    eitlu-r   prodigal   or  slothtul,   yet   my 
h.-alth  is    not  to   spend,  nor    my  course  to  get.      Liistly, 
,.onfess  that  T  have  as  vast  coulciui.lat ivc  ends,  as  1  have 
,„„,.,.at."  civil    .-nds:    fori    Lave   tak<.n    all  knowledge  to 
h,.niyprovin.-e;    and    if    I  eould  purge   it  of   two  sorts  of 
rovers,  wh.-reof    th-  n.u.  with    Irivolous  disputations,  con- 
futations,  and    v...l.ositi..s,the   other    with    blind    .•xp.rn 


1590-92.]        EEMEMBRANCE  TO  BURGHLEY.  57 

ments  and  auricular  traditions  and  impostures,  hath  com- 
mitted so  many  spoils,  I  hope  I  should  bring  in  industrious 
observations,  grounded  conclusions,  and  profitable  inven- 
tions and  discoveries ;  the  best  state  of  that  province. 
This,  whether  it  be  curiosity,  or  vain  glory,  or  nature,  or 
(if  one  take  it  favorably)  phila7ithropia,  is  so  fixed  in  my 
mind  as  it  cannot  be  removed.  And  I  do  easily  see,  tjiat 
place  of  any  reasonable  countenance  doth  bring  command- 
ment of  more  wits  than  of  a  man's  own  ;  which  is  the 
thing  I  greatly  affect.  And  for  your  Loixlship,  perhaps 
you  shall  not  find  more  strength  and  less  encounter  in 
any  other.  And  if  your  Lordship  shall  find  now,  or  at 
any  time,  that  I  do  seek  or  affect  any  place  whereunto 
any  that  is  nearer  unto  your  Lordship  shall  be  concurrent, 
say  then  that  I  am  a  most  dishonest  man.  And  if  your 
Lordship  will  not  carry  me  on,  T  will  not  do  as  Anaxag- 
oras  did,  who  reduced  himself  with  contemplation  unto 
voluntary  poverty :  but  this  I  will  do ;  I  will  sell  the  in- 
heritance that  I  have,  and  purchase  some  lease  of  quick 
revenue,  or  some  office  of  gain  that  shall  be  executed  by 
deputy,  and  so  give  over  all  care  of  sei'vice,  and  become 
some  sorry  book-maker,  or  a  true  pioneer  in  that  mine  of 
truth,  which  (he  said)  lay  so  deep.  This  which  I  have 
writ  unto  your  Lordship  is  rather  thoughts  than  words, 
being  set  down  without  all  art,  disguising,  or  reservation. 
Wherein  I  have  done  honor  both  to  your  Lordship's  wis- 
dom, in  judging  that  that  will  be  best  believed  of  your 
Lordship  which  is  truest,  and  to  your  Lordship's  good 
nature,  in  retaining  nothing  from  you.  And  even  so  I 
wish  your  Lordship  all  happiness,  and  to  myself  means 
and  occasion  to  be  added  to  my  faithful  desire  to  do  you 
service.     From  my  lodging  at  Gray's  Inn. 

The  two  brothers  were  now  established  under  the  same 
roof  in  Gray's  Inn,  where  they  lived  on  the  most  affec- 
tionate and  confidential  footing ;  Anthony,  in  spite  of  his 


eg  THE  T^yO   BROTHERS.  [R^k  I. 

continued  ill-lieatli,  taking  an  earnest  interest  in  foreign 
affairs,   and  carrying  on   an  active  intercourse  by    etter 
with  his   correspondents  abroad;   Francis  busy  with    us 
law  and  philosophy  and  home  politics,  yet  continually 
consulted  by  his  brother  on  all  questions  of  importance  ; 
each  always  ready  to  help  the  other  to  the  utmost  ot  his 
power  with  money,  credit,   or  advice.     Living  tlius  to- 
gether, and  seeing  each  other  every  day,  it  was  only  now 
and  then  (as  when  one  of  them  visited  his  mother  at 
Gorhambury,  or   retreated   for    quiet   and    fresh    air   to 
Twickenham  Park,  where  Fsancis  had  a  lodge)  that  they 
had  occasion  to  communicate  by  letter.    But  Lady  Bacon 
was  continually   writing:   and    a    great   number  of  her 
letters  (directed  to  Anthony,  but  addressed  generally  to 
both)  are  preserved  among  the  Tenison  MbS.  at  Lam- 
beth     These  throw  a  very  full  hght  upon  her  own  char- 
acter, and   upon   the  relations  which   subsisted  between 
her  and  her  sons ;  a  relation  too  important  at  this  period 
of  Francis's  life  to  be  lost  sight  of;  for  the  feelings  of 
such   a  mother,  whether   in  approbation   or  disapproba- 
tion,  could  not  but    enter  into  his  consideration,   even 
wliere  tliey  did  not  determine  his  course.     But  to  under- 
stand this  relation  rightly,  it  is  necessary  to  know  her  as 
well  -IS  him:  and  with  a  view  to  this,  it  will  be  worth 
while  to  .luote  some  passages   of   the  correspondence  in 
which  he  is  not  directly  alluded  to.  _ 

I  Inve  already  introduced  her  addressing  Lord  Burgli- 
ley  on  matters  of  church  and  state.  I  shall  now  show 
h,.r  in  a  less  constrained  mood,  un.ler  the  agitations  of 
maternal  anxiety.  It  seems  that  Anthony  Bacon,  seek- 
intr  on  all  sides  for  intelligence  oncennng  part.es  and 
inliitical  intrigues  abroad,  had  use.l  the  services  of  Catho- 
lics -IS  w.'ll  as  Protestants;  and  among  others  had  a  con- 
liaential  servant  named  Lawson,  whose  religion  was  sus- 
r„.ete.l  Him  he  had  sent  over  to  Lor.l  l>,urghl."y  witli 
iulvertis.Muents,  whi-'b    it  was  in.po.tant  to  .lel.ver 


Honn! 


1590-92]  LADY  BACON'S  ANXIETIES.  59 

safely  and  secretly.  Lady  Bacon,  a  vehement  anti-Catho- 
lic, suspecting  his  fidelity  and  dreading  the  effect  of  such 
company  upon  her  son's  faith  and  morals,  prevailed  upon 
Burghley  to  have  him  arrested  and  detained  in  England. 
Anthony,  hearing  of  this,  sent  his  friend  Francis  Allen,  a 
frankhearted,  plain-spoken  soldier,  to  intercede  for  him 
both  with  Burghley  and  his  mother  ;  that  he  might  be 
allowed  to  return.  Burghley  seems  to  have  been  will- 
ing, for  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Lady  Bacon  on  the  subject ; 
with  which  Captain  Allen  proceeded  to  Gorhambury. 
The  rest  he  shall  tell  himself. 

"  Upon  my  arrival  at  Godombery  my  Lady  used  me  courte- 
ously until  such  time  I  began  to  move  her  for  Mr.  Lawson ; 
and,  to  say  the  truth,  for  yourself ;  being  so  much  transported 
with  your  abode  there  that  she  let  not  to  say  that  you  are  a 
traitor  to  God  and  your  country  ;  you  have  undone  her  ;  you 
seek  her  death  ;  and  when  you  have  that  you  seek  for,  you  shall 
have  but  a  hundred  pounds  more  than  you  have  now. 

"  She  is  resolved  to  procure  her  Majesty's  letter  to  force  you 
to  return ;  and  when  that  should  be,  if  her  Majesty  give  you 
your  right  or  desert,  she  should  cla{)  you  up  in  pi'ison.  She 
cannot  abide  to  hear  of  you,  as  she  saith,  nor  of  the  other  es- 
pecially, and  told  me  plainly  she  should  be  the  worse  this  mouth 
for  my  coming  without  you,  and  axed  me  why  you  could  not 
have  come  from  thence  as  well  as  myself. 

"  She  saith  you  are  hated  of  all  the  chiefest  on  that  side,  and 
cursed  of  God  in  all  your  actions,  since  Mr.  Lawson's  being  with 
you. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  write  it,  considering  his  deserts  and  your  love 
towards  him ;  but  the  truth  will  be  known  at  the  last,  and  better 
late  than  never ;  it  is  vain  to  look  for  Mr.  Lawson's  return,  for 
these  are  her  Ladyship's  own  words :  '  No,  no,'  saith  she,  '  I 
have  learned  not  to  employ  ill  to  good ;  and  if  there  were  no 
more  men  in  England,  and  althou'gh  you  should  never  come 
home,  he  shall  never  come  to  you.'  .... 

''It  is  as  unpossible  to  persuade  my  Lady  to  send  him  as  for 
myself  to  send  you  Paul's  steeple 


60  CAPTAIX  ALLEN   AND  LADY  BACON.  [Book  L 

"  I  must  confess  your  brother,  Mr.  Francis  Bacon,  is  most 
tractable  and  most  earnest,  if  possible  it  may  be  clone,  to  fultill 
your  demand  ;  lie  hath  used  me  with  great  humanity,  for  which 
I  humbly  pray  you  to  give  him  thanks. 

"My  Lady  seemed  to  be  angry  with  me  because  I  had 
brought  this  bearer  Guilliaum  from  you,  saying  you  had  but 
one  honest  and  trusty  man,  and  I  had  deboshed  him  fiom 
you;  which  is  cause  I  have  taken  resolution  to  send  him  to 
you  again ;  I  send  him  not  more  willingly  than  he  is  willing  to 

return. 

"  Mr.  Lawson  is  in  great  necessity,  and  your  brother  dares  not 
help  him,  in  respect  of  my  Lady's  displeasure 

"  My  Lady  said  she  had  rather  you  made  the  wars  with  the 
King  of  Navarre  than  to  have  staid  so  long  idle  in  Montoban, 
and  with  great  earnestness,  also  tears  in  her  eyes,  she  wished 
that  when  she  heard  of  Mr.  Selum's  imprisonment  you  had  been 
fairly  buried,  provided  you  had  died  in  the  Lord.  In  ray  simple 
judgment  she  spoke  it  in  her  passion,  and  repented  immediately 

her  words. 

"  When  you  have  received  your  provision,  make  your  repair 
home  again,  lest  you  be  a  means  to  shorten  her  days,  for  she  told 
me  the  crief  of  mind  received  daily  by  your  stay  will  be  her  end  ; 
also  saith  her  jewels  be  spent  for  you,  and  that  she  borrowed  the 
last  money  of  seven  several  persons. 

"  Thus  much  I  must  confess  unto  you  for  a  conclusion,  that 
I  have  never  seen  nor  never  shall  see  a  wise  Lady,  an  honor- 
al)le  woman,  a  mother,  more  perplexed  for  her  son's  absence 
than  I  have  seen  that  honorable  dame  for  yours.  —  There- 
fore lay  your  hand  on  your  heart,  look  not  for  Mr.  Lawson  ; 
here  he  hath,  as  a  man  may  say,  heaven  and  earth  against  him 
and  his  return. 

"If  you  think  much  of  my  plainness,  take  heed  you  give  me 
110  authority  another  time ;  for  I  shall  do  the  like. 

"  F.  Allen. 

"The  17th  August,  1  5S0.^' 

]^,iir<,'lil<7\s  letter,  and  another  in  the  same  behalf  from 
Francis  Bacon,  she.  "  wouhl  not  (nice  voiwhsafe  to  look 
upon;"  and  wli.-n  Anthony  reUnn.-.l  at  last,  more  than 


1590-92.]        LADY  BACON  AND  HER  SONS.  61 

two  3'ears  after,  Lawson  appears  to  have  been  still  in 
England,  and  Lady  Bacon's  feelings  towards  him  unal- 
tered. The  letter  with  which  she  dispatched  Nicholas 
Faunt,  her  son's  Puritan  friend,  to  greet  him  on  his  ar- 
rival, will  throw  some  further  light  upon  the  character  of 
this  remarkable  woman. 

"  The  grace  of  God  be  daily  multiplied  iu  you,  with  mercy  in 
Christ  our  Lord. 

"That  you  are  returned  now  at  length  I  am  right  glad.  God 
bless  it  to  us  both.  But  when  I  heard  withal  that  Lawson,  who 
I  fore-suspected,  stale  hence  unto  you,  and  so  belike  hath  wrought 
upon  you  again  to  your  hurt,  to  serve  his  own  turn  as  hereto- 
fore; how  welcome  that  could  be  to  your  long-grieved  mother, 
judge  you.  I  can  hardly  say  whether  your  gout  or  his  company 
were  the  worse  tidings.  I  have  entertained  this  gentleman,  Mr. 
Fant,  to  do  so  much  kindness  for  me  as  to  journey  towards  you, 
because  your  brother  is  preparing  your  lodging  at  Gray's  Inn 
very  carefully  for  you.  I  thank  God  that  Mr.  Fant  was  willing 
so  to  do,  and  was  very  glad,  because  he  is  not  only  an  honest 
gentleman  in  civil  behavior,  but  one  that  feareth  God  indeed, 
and  as  wise  withal,  having  experience  of  our  state,  and  is  able 
to  advise  you  both  very  wisely  and  friendly.  For  he  loveth 
yourself,  and  needed  not  yours,  as  others  have  and  yet  dis  .  .  .  .  -^ 
with  you.  He  doth  me  pleasure  in  this,  for  I  could  not  have 
found  another  so  very  meet  for  you  and  me  in  all  the  best  and 
most  necessary  respects.  Use  him  therefore,  good  son,  and  make 
much  of  such,  and  of  their  godly  and  sound  friendly  counsel. 
This  one  chiefest  counsel  your  Christian  and  natural  mother 
doth  give  you  even  before  the  Lord,  that  above  all  worldly  re- 
spects you  carry  yourself  ever  at  your  first  coming  as  one  that 
doth  unfeignedly  profess  the  true  religion  of  Clu-ist,  and  hath 
the  love  of  the  truth  now^  by  long  continuance  fest  settled  in 
your  heart,  and  that  with  judgment,  wisdom,  and  discretion,  and 
are  not  afraid  or  ashamed  to  testify  the  same  by  hearing  and 
delighting  in  those  religious  exercises  of  the  sincerer  sort,  be 
they  French  or  P2nglish.  In  hoc  noli  adhihere  frcUrem  tuuni  ad 
1  The  rest  of  this  word  is  illegible  :  perhaps  dissemble. 


62  LADY  BACON  TO  ANTHONY.  [Book  I. 

consilium  aut   exemplum.     Sed  phis  dehinc.     If  you   will    be 
wavering  (which  God  forbid,  God  forbid),  you  shall  have  exam- 
ples and  ill  encouragers  too  many  in  these  days,  and  that  apch 
^Lua-,   since   he    was   ySouAevrr/?,    iarl   aTroXeia   T?]<i   CKKXi/o-ta?   [xeh 
rjfJio^i',   <j!)!.A.€r  yap   rrju   iavTov   So^av   TrXiov  tt}?   Sot'Tjs   tov   Xpi.aTov. 
Beware,  therefore,  and  be  constant  in  godly  profession  without 
fainting,  and  that  from  your  heart ;  for   formality  wanteth  none 
with  us,  but  too  common.     Be  not  speedy  of  speech  nor  talk 
suddenly,  but  where  discretion  requireth,  and  that  soberly  thfii. 
For  the  property  of  our  world  is  to  sound  out  at  first  coming, 
and  after  to  contain.     Courtesy  is  necessary,  but  too  common 
familiarity  in  talking  and  words  is  very  unprofitable,  and  not 
without  hurt-taking,  ut  nimc  sunt  iempora.      Remember   you 
have  no  father.     And  you  have  little  enough,  if  not  too  little, 
regarded  your  kind  and  no  simple  mother's  wholesome  advice 
from  time  to  time.     And  as  I  do  impute  all  most  humbly  to  the 
grace  of  God  whatsoever  he  hath  bestowed  upon  me,  so  dare  I 
affirm  that  it  had  been  good  for  you  every  way  if  you  had  fol- 
lowed it  long  ere  this.     But  God  is  the  same,  who  is  able  to 
heal  both  mind  and  body,  whom  in  Christ  I  beseech  to  be  your 
merciful  father  and  to  take  care  of  you,  guiding  you  with  his 
holy  and  most  comfortable  spirit,  now  and  ever. 

"  Let  not  Lawson,  that  fox,  be  acfjuainted  with  my  letters. 
I  disdain  both  it  and  him.  He  commonly  opened  uiidurmiu- 
in<dy  all  letters  sent  to  you  from  counsel  or  friends.  I  know  it, 
and  you  may  too  much,  if  God  open  your  eyes  as  I  trust  ho 
will.  Send  it  back,  to  be  sure,  by  Mr.  Fant  sealed  ;  but  he  will 
pry  and  prattle.     So  fare  you  well,  and  the  Lord  bless  you  and 

keep  you  for  ever. 

"  Your  mother, 

"  3  Febr."  "  ^'  Bacon. 

"  I  trust  you,  witli  your  servants,  use  prayer  twice  in  a  day, 
having  been  when;  reformation  is.'^  Omit  it  not  for  any.  It 
will  be  your  best  cr(!<lit  to  serve  the  Lord  duly  and  reverently 

1  That  iinlil)i>liop  (n.eainiiK  Wliitt;ift),  sincu  lu'  was  ciiuicillor,  is  the  de 
Btruclion  of  our  chiuvh,  for  he  h)ves  his  own  i^Ury  more  th:in  the  glory  ol 
Christ. 

2  Aiithoiiv  Bacon  had  clayed  some  time  al  r.i'ncva. 


1590-!t2.J  LADY  BACON  AND  HER  SONS.  63 

and  3011  will  be  observed  at  the  first  now.  Your  brother  is  too 
negligent  herein,  but  do  you  well  and  zealously ;  it  will  be 
looked  for  of  the  best  learned  sort,  and  that  is  best." 

The  rest  of  Lady  Bacon's  letters  (of  which  I  have 
copies  of  ten  or  twelve,  written  within  the  next  six  months) 
all  exhibit  the  same  tender  and  anxious  affection,  the 
same  fervid  piety,  the  same  proneness  to  suspect  every- 
body about  her  son  of  preying  upon  him  and  abusing  his 
simplicity  and  inexperience  ;  the  same  irritable  jealousy 
with  regard  to  her  own  maternal  authority  ;  curiously 
mixed  with  little  solicitudes  about  his  physic,  his  diet,  his 
hours  of  sleeping,  waking,  and  going  abroad,  and  all  his 
braaller  household  arrangements. 

The  relation  between  the  sovereign  and  the  subject,  or 
the  Church  and  her  members,  changes,  as  creeds  and  con- 
stitutions change,  till  at  the  distance  of  a  few  generations 
it  becomes  impossible  to  conceive  it  correctly  without 
some  power  of  imagination  as  well  as  much  knowledge  of 
the  facts.  But  the  relation  between  the  mother  and  the 
son  remains  substantially  the  same  ;  and  Lady  Bacon's 
affections,  dispositions,  manners,  and  temper,  reveal  them- 
selves through  iier  maternal  solicitudes,  serious  and  trivial, 
as  clearly  as  if  it  were  to-day :  an  affectionate,  vehement, 
fiery,  grave,  and  religious  soul,  just  beginning  to  fail 
where  such  natures  commonly  fail  first,  in  the  power  of 
self-command  :  in  creed  a  Calvinist,  in  morals  a  Puritan. 
Of  the  letters  which  must  for  many  years  have  been  con- 
tinually passing  between  her  and  Francis,  only  two  or 
three  have  been  preserved.  But  if  we  would  understand 
his  position,  we  must  not  forget  that  he  had  a  mother  of 
this  character  and  temper  living  within  a  few  hours'  ride 
of  his  chambers,  anxiously  watching  over  his  proceed- 
ings, and  by  advice  or  authority  continually  interfering 
in  his  aft'airs. 

The  two  brothers  seem   to  have  remained   at   Gray's 


g4  LETTER  TO  THOMAS  PHILLIPS.  [Book  I. 

Inn  together  till  the  beginning  of  August,  when  Anthony 
went  t^'o  Gorhambury,  and  Francis  shortly  after,  "  upon 
a  flying  report  of  the  sickness,"  betook  himself  along 
with  some  of  his  lawyer  friends  to  Twickenham  Park  ; 
and  asked  Dr.  Andrewes,  afterwards  the  famous  Bishop, 
to  join  the  party  ;  whose  duty  however,  as  preacher 
at  St.  Giles's,  detained  him.  On  the  14th  he  wrote  to 
invite  Mr.  Thomas  Phillips,  who  had  been  formerly  m 
the  service  of  Walsingham,  and  was  now  employed  by 
the  Earl  of  Essex,  apparently  upon  Bacon's  recommen- 
dation. 

From  a  letter  addressed  to  this  person  on  the  lotli  ot 
September,  we  catch  a  gUmpse  of  one  kind  of  work  in 
which    Bacon's    relation    to    Essex    now    involved    him. 
Phillips  had  apparently  been  employed  by  the  Earl  m 
procuring  intelligence  from  abroad.     The  times  were  so 
critical,  and  so  many  dark  conspiracies  on  foot,  that  this 
art   of   procuring  intelligence  was   among  the  most  im- 
portant cpialifications   of  a   Councillor,  and    a  point   in 
which  the  rival  courtiers  strove  to  outshine  each   other. 
Essex  was  not  yet  a  Councillor,  but  in  good  hope  of  be- 
uw  sworn  in  soon,  and  eagerly  seeking  occasions  to  prove 
his  worth.     In  this  case  there  seems  to  have  been  some 
danger   of   disappointment,  wl.ic-li   Bacon  was  anxious  to 
avert.     What  the  particular  occasion  was  cannot  be  de- 
termined from  the  expr(;ssions  of  the  letter  ;  but  we  hap- 
pen  to  know  that   about  this   time   the  Council  was  oc- 
cupied  with    some  -  great    busin.'ss    about    Jesuits    and 
seminary  priests  ;  by  some  whereof  there  we.-e  matters 
of   great  weight  discovered   concerning   the   State,  as  a 
new  practice   or  plot  of  invasion   h.'tween   Spain,  Scot- 
l-md     the    Pope,  and    some    otlier   a.lheients,   as  Savoy, 
etc."'      An.l    it    is    u«>t   improbable,    that    Mr.    Phillips's 
"Mercury"   was   some    inteHig<'ncer  whom  he   had   dis- 
patched to  gatlier  news  about  this. 


1590-92.]  LABORS  IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  ESSEX.  65 

TO  MPw    THOMAS   PHILLIPS. 

Sir,  —  I  congratulate  your  return,  hoping  that  all  is 
passed  on  your  side.  Your  Mercury  is  returned  ;  whose 
return  alarmed  as  upon  some  great  matter,  which  I  fear 
he  will  not  satisfy.  News  of  his  coming  came  before  his 
own  letter,  and  to  other  than  to  his  proper  servant[?],^ 
which  maketh  me  desirous  to  satisfy  or  to  salve.  My 
Lord  hath  required  him  to  repair  to  me  ;  which  upon  his 
Lordship's  and  mine  own  letters  received  I  doubt  not  but 
he  will  with  all  speed  perform  ;  where  I  pray  you  to 
meet  him  if  you  may,  that  laying  our  heads  together  we 
may  maintain  his  credit,  satisfy  my  Lord's  expectation, 
and  procure  some  good  service.  I  pray  the  rather  spare 
not  your  travail,  because  I  think  the  Queen  is  already 
party  to  the  advertisement  of  his  coming  over,  and  in 
some  suspect  which  you  may  not  disclose  to  him.  So  I 
wish  you  as  myself,  this  15th  of  September,  1592. 
Yours  ever  assured, 

Fr.  Bacon. 

By  what  accident  this  and  other  letters  from  Bacon  to 
Phillips  were  preserved  and  found  their  way  into  the  place 
where  they  now  are,  I  cannot  positively  say.  But  I  find 
that  in  the  beginning  of  the  next  reign  Thomas  Phillips 
was  examined  before  the  Council  concerning  certain  secri't 
correspondence  which  had  been  held  by  him  with  some 
one  abroad  :  with  which  correspondence  "  there  were  ac- 
quainted the  Queen's  Majesty,  the  Earl  of  Essex,  Mr. 
Francis  Bacon,  Sir  William  Waad,  and  Mr.  Phillips:  the 
three  last  being  acquainted  with  it,  every  man  in  his 
turn,  as  the  Queen  and  the  Earl  would  emj)loy  them." 
On  such  an  occasion  all  Phillips's  papers  of  this  kind 
would  naturally  come  into  the  hands  of  the  Government, 
and  so  finally  into  the  State  Paper  Otfice.     These  letters 

1  I  am  not  sure  of  this  word  :   but  I  think  it  is  "  S'." 
vo'„  I.  5 


(3(3  A  COUET  DEVICE.  [Book  I. 

of  Bacon's  therefore,  and  others  of  the  same  sort  which 
we  shall  meet  with  as  we  proceed,  are  to  be  regarded 
merely  as  specimens  and  fragments  accidently  cast  up  of 
the  kind  of  services  in  which  Essex  employed  him ;  not 
by  any  means  as  affording  a  complete  account  of  his  labors, 
even  in  tins  one  kind. 

But  as  Essex  aspired  to  distinction  in  many  other  ways, 
so  Bacon  studied  in  many  other  ways  to  help  him  ;  among 
the  rest  by  contributing  to  those   fanciful  pageants    or 
"  devices,"  as   they  were   called,  with  which   it  was  the 
fashion  of  the  time  to  entertain  the  Queen  on  festive  oc- 
casions.    One  of  the  most  notable  of  his  smaller  works, 
his  "  Discourse    in   Praise    of  his  Sovereign,"    was    most 
likely  composed  for  some  occasion  of  the  kind.     We  know 
now,  what  had  been  conjectured   before,  that   it  formed 
part  of  an  imaginary  conversation,  in  which  four  friends 
meeting  for  intellectual  amusement  were  represented  as 
delivertng  speeches    in  praise  of    what  they  held    most 
worthy.     The  first  chose  for  his  subject  Fortitude,  as  be- 
ing the  worthiest  virtue  :  the  second  Love,  as  the  worthiest 
aff^ection  ;  the  third  Knowledge,  as  the  worthiest  power; 
the  fourth  the  Queen,  as  the  worthiest  person.     Tlie  his- 
torical allusions  in  the  last  point  to  1592  as  the  probable 
date  of  composition,  and  we  know  that  Essex  did  adorn  the 
triumphs  of  the  "  Queen's  Day  "  in  that  year  with  some 
distincruished  device,  and  that  Bacon  was  about  the  Court. 
It  seems  very  likely  therefore  that  it  was  composed  for  that 
entertainment.     But  though  the  occasion  was  complimen- 
tary and  the  styhi  rhetorical,  the   matter  was  grave  and 
there  was  a  special   eircun.stanc'  whi.h   wouhl  give  it  at 
that  time  a  i)eeuliar  and  serious  interest.      The  -  Kespon- 
Bio    ad    edictum    Regina;    Angliie"    had    .pist  appeared ; 
a    labored    invective   against  the     govnunrnt,    charging 
upon  the  Que.-n  and  her  advisers  all  the  evils  of  England 
and  all  the  disturl»anees  <.f  Clnistendom.i     It  was  written 

1  Fall.tT  Pawiirt  is  wii.pcsi.l  U>  l.av  Ix-i-     l"'  ^^'•it^■'■• 


1590-92.]      PUBLICATION  OF  PARSONS'S    "RESPONSIO."  67 

directly  in  favor  of  Spain  and  the  Catholic  cause,  and  ad- 
dressed itself  to  all  disaffected  spirits  both  at  home  and 
abroad.  A  copy  of  it  had  been  sent  the  week  before  to 
Anthony  Bacon  by  one  of  the  Lord  Keeper's  secretaries, 
with  a  request  that  "  it  might  be  kept  from  any  but  such 
as  were  well  affected  and  knew  how  to  use  such  things ;  " 
so  it  was  quite  a  fresh  matter.  Now  Francis  Bacon's 
oration,  though  not  directly  alluding  to  this  book  (which 
might  be  thought  inexpedient,  as  tending  to  give  it  no- 
toriety) did  by  implication  meet  and  answer  the  princi- 
pal allegations  which  it  contained.  Whether  this  would 
have  been  enough  to  secure  a  patient  hearing  at  Court 
•~in  a  time  of  festivity  for  a  discourse  so  grave,  so  solid,  and 
so  long,  may  be  doubted.  But  whatever  the  view  with 
which  it  was  composed  or  the  use  to  which  it  was  put, 
it  is  not  likely  that  it  was  allowed  to  remain  unseen  b}'- 
those  whom  it  most  concerned  ;  and  I  suppose  it  was 
from  the  zeal  and  ability  which  it  displa3"ed,  that  Bacon 
was  encouraged  shortly  after  to  undertake  a  larger  work 
on  the  same  subject;  and  to  meet  that  libellous  publica- 
tion (which  was  sure,  whether  noticed  or  not,  to  find  its 
way  into  circulation  ;  especially  in  the  quarters  where  it 
would  do  most  mischief)  with  a  detailed  reply.  Here- 
upon, laying  aside  the  rhetorical  and  panegyiical  style, 
he  fell  back  into  that  which  was  proper  for  the  occasion 
and  natural  to  himself  ;  worked  up  the  substance  of  his 
oration  into  a  narrative  and  argumentative  form  ;  and  en- 
larging his  plan  to  take  in  the  whole  state  of  the  kingdom 
and  all  the  matters  in  dispute,  produced  "  Observations 
on  a  Libel  published  this  present  vear  1592,"  which  was 
circulated  —  and  to  judge  by  the  number  of  old  copies 
still  extant,  circulated  extensively  —  at  the  time  in  man- 
uscript; and  must  always  keep  its  value,  not  only  as  a 
historical  record  of  the  times,  but  as  a  specimen  of  the 
manner  in  which  this  kind  of  controversy  ought  to  be 
conducted. 


68  "OBSERVATIONS   ON   A  LIBEL."  [Book  I. 

I  have  Hot  succeeded  in  ascertaining  the  exact  time 
at  which  this  treatise  was  composed,  but  I  suppose  it  to 
have  been  in  Januaiy  or  February,  1592-3  ;  when  Bacon 
had  just  completed  his  tliirty-second  year,  tuid  was  about 
to  play  a  conspicuous  part  in  a  new  Parliament  —  a  part 
which  brought  out  his  character  in  some  new  aspects  and 
had  a  serious  influence  upon  his  after-fortunes. 


CHAPTER  V. 

A.  D.   1593.      ^TAT.   33. 

One  of  the  principal  objects  of  the  author  of  the  libel 
was  to  set  forth  the  pacific  policy  of  the  King  of  Spain. 
It  proved  to  be  the  immediate  forerunner,  if  not  the 
actual  preparative  and  accomplice,  of  a  new  intrigue  in 
Scotland  more  alarming  than  any  of  the  rest.  And  be- 
fore the  reply  was  finished,  several  of  the  most  powerful 
nobles  had  formally  pledged  themselves  to  receive  Span- 
ish forces  in  Scotland,  and  to  raise,  by  help  of  Spanish 
money,  forces  of  their  own  to  join  with  them.  Of  this 
fact  the  English  government  received  certain  intelligence 
early  in  January,  1592-3.  It  was  necessary  therefore  to 
be  prepared  for  an  invasion  at  both  ends  of  the  king- 
dom at  once ;  and  as  the  double  subsidy  granted  three 
years  before  had  been  already  spent  in  aids  to  the 
Netherlands  and  France,  no  time  was  to  be  lost  in  sum- 
moning a  new  Parliament  and  obtaining  fresh  and  liberal 
supplies. 

The  Houses  met  on  the  19th  of  February.  The  Lord 
Keeper,  in  the  Queen's  presence  and  by  her  command, 
informed  them  why  they  had  been  called,  what  they  were 
to  do,  and  what  not  to  do.  He  told  them  that  the  King 
of  Spain  had  since  1588  been  furnishing  himself  with 
ships  of  a  different  build,  fitter  for  our  waters;  had 
possessed  himself  of  the  principal  strongholds  in  Brit- 
tany, places  convenient  to  assail  us  from  by  sea  ;  had  won 
a  party  in  Scotland  to  give  landing  to  his  forces  thne, 
sent  over  large  sums  of  monev,  and  received  written  prom- 


70  THE  LORD   KEEPER'S  ADMONITION.  [Bo.mc  I. 

ises  of  assistance ;  and  that  his  purpose  was  to  invade  us 
by  land  and  sea  at  once,  from  north  and  south.     Mean- 
time, the  Queen's  treasure  being  spent,  she  had  called 
them  "  that  she  might  consult  with  her  subjects  for  the 
better  withstanding  of  these  intended  invasions,  which 
were  now  greater  than  were  ever  heretofore  heard  of." 
He  told  them  that  they  were  not  called  to  make  any  new 
laws,  of  which  there  were  already  so  many  that  an  abridg- 
ment of  those  there  were  was  more  wanted  than  an  addi- 
tion to  the  number  ;  that  the  session  could  not  be  long, 
for  spring  was  near  when  gentlemen  would  be  wanted  in 
their  counties  and  the  justices  of  assize  in  their  circuits  ; 
therefore  that  the  good  hours  must  not  be  lost  m  idle 
speeches,  but  employed  wholly  in  the  needful  business  of 

the  time. 

In  these  admonitions  there  was  nothing  unusual.     JNo 
remonstrance    was    made;    no    symptoms    of    opposition 
manifested  ;  nor  did   there  seem  to   be   any  reason   for 
doubting  that  if  the  Commons  were  left  to  take  then- 
ordinary  course  without  further  interference,  they  would 
do  the  business  willingly  and  satisfactorily.     It  is  true 
that  they  had  shown  themselves  on  late  occasions  very 
jealous  of  their  trust,  and  very  reluctant  to  make  prece- 
dents for  double  subsidies.     But  in  times  of  war  subsi- 
dies were   understood   to  be  the  constitutional  resource. 
The  wars  in  which  the  country  was  then  engaged  were 
popular.     There   was  no  suspicion    of  waste  or  misem- 
ployment  or  ill  success  in  the  administration  of  former 
grants.     And  if  extraordinary  sacriiices  were  due  to  ex- 
traordinary occasions,  never  was  there  a  time  m   whuh 
they  might  have   been   more  reasonably  expected    than 
upon  the  fresh   alarm   (for  the    King   of  Spain's  design 
was  not  known  to  the  English  public  before  Parlianu-nt 
met)  of  so  formi.lable  a  danger.      Yet  scarcely  a  week 
liad    passed    before  obstructions   and   misunderstandmgs 
arose,  and  that  in  a  manner  and  .luartcr  so  unexpected, 


1593.]    THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.     71 

that  historians  have  had  to  seek  far,  and  hitherto  I  think 
unsuccessfully,  for  an  explanation  of  them. 

That  there  had  grown  up  under  the  leadership  of  the 
Earl  of  Essex  a  23f^i'liiiiu<ii^tary  "opposition,"  whose  ob- 
ject was  to  embarrass  the  ministers  in  the  hope  of  sup- 
planting them,  is  a  modern  suggestion,  drawn  from  mod- 
ern experiences,  without  a  shadow  of  direct  evidence  to 
support  it,  and  incredible  to  any  one  acquainted  with 
those  times.  To  embarrass  Queen  Elizabeth's  govern- 
ment in  a  crisis  of  national  danger  was  no  man's  way  to 
a  seat  at  her  council-table.  To  me  it  appears  more  prob- 
able that  the  opposition  she  met  with  was  legitimately 
provoked  by  the  Queen  herself  ;  for  that,  seeing  the  grad- 
ual encroachments  which  for  some  years  Privilege  had 
been  making  upon  Prerogative,  she  had  intended  to  take 
advantage  of  what  seemed  a  favorable  crisis,  not  merely 
for  obtaining  those  supplies  which  she  was  entitled  to  ask 
for,  but  also  for  establishing  one  or  two  precedents  in  her 
own  favor  upon  certain  points  of  form  which  custom  had 
not  yet  settled.  The  right  of  free  debate  in  the  Lower 
House,  for  instance,  had  its  limits  in  fact,  as  we  know ; 
but  Peter  Wentworth  had  formally  disputed  them  \^  and 
the  dispute,  though  silenced,  had  not  been  decided.  So 
also  the  rule  of  voting  only  one  subsidy  at  a  time  had 
been  broken  by  the  last  Parliament ;  but  it  was  with  an 
intimation  that  the  case  was  extraordinarj'^,  and  a  proviso 
that  it  should  not  be  taken  for  a  precedent.  Now  this 
rule  was  inconvenient  for  the  public  service,  and  by  a 
little  judicious  management  might  be  made  to  lose  its 
prescriptive  authority.  Again,  the  Commons  had  been 
allowed  hitherto  to  discuss  all  questions  of  supply  by 
themselves,  without  dictation  or  interference.  But  since 
it  was  not  possible  to  judge  how  large  a  supply  ought  to 
be  offered,  without  knowing  the  occasion  which  called  for 
it;  and  since  the  Commons  were  not  then  admitted  to  be 

1  28th  February,  158G-7.     See  D'Ewes,  p.  411. 


72  COMMITTAL  OF  PETER   WENTWOKTII    ET  AL.       [Book  I. 

fit  judges  of  council-table  matters;  it  would  certainly  be 
convenient  for  the  government,  and  might  appear  not  al- 
together unreasonable  in  itself,  to  introduce  a  custom  of 
discussing  such  questions  in  conference  with  the  Lords. 
Here  then  were  three  constitutional  points,  all  fairly  dis- 
putable, which  the  Queen  would  naturally  wish  to  settle 
in  her  own  favor;  and  it  probably  occurred  to  her  that 
the  urgency  of  the  occasion,  and  the  enthusiastic  loyalty 
which  she  could  so  well  count  upon  in  times  of  national 
danger,  might  enable  her  silently  to  advance  a  step  in 
these  directions.  Nor  was  she  altojjether  mistaken.  In 
the  first  point  she  succeeded  completely  for  the  time, 
and  without  a  struggle.  For  when  the  Speaker  proffered 
the  usual  petition  for  liberty  of  speech,  the  Lord  Keeper 
was  instructed  to  answ^er  '*  that  liberty  of  speech  was 
granted  in  respect  of  the  Aye  and  No  ;  but  not  that  every 
one  should  s])eak  what  he  listed  ; "  a  declaration  which, 
in  strict  construction,  denied  liberty  of  speech  and  allowed 
only  liberty  of  vote.  And  this  jM'ineiple,  so  frankly 
avowed,  she  took  the  earliest  opportunity  of  enforcing  in 
practice.  For  the  first  ])roceeding  on  the  part  of  the 
Lower  House  being  the  delivery  by  certain  members  to 
the  Lord  Keeper  (the  House  itself  not  being  able  to  sit 
because  the  Speaker  was  too  ill  to  attend)  of  a  petition 
relating  to  the  succession  of  the  Crown,  the  members  who 
delivered  it, —  Peter  Wentworth  and  others,  —  were  im- 
mediately called  before  the  Council,  and  committed  some 
to  the  Tower  and  others  to  the  Fleet ;  where  they  re- 
mained, I  believe,  to  the  end  of  the  session  ;  thus  losing 
their  liberty  of  vote  and  speech  both.  And  when  it  was 
proposed  to  petition  the  Qu(!en  for  their  release  (lest 
their  constituents  should  complain  of  having  to  pay  taxes 
to  which  their  representatives  had  not  consented),  answer 
was  made  by  the;  privy  councillors  that  "  her  Majesty 
had  committed  them  for  causes  best  known  to  herself," 
and  that  to  i)ress  her  with  the  proposed  suit  "  would  only 


1593.]    THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  THE  HOUSE  OF  COxMMONS.     73 

hinder  them  whose  good  they  sought ;"  with  which  an- 
swer the  House  seems  to  have  been  satisfied.  This  was 
no  novelty,  it  is  true  ;  for  many  precedents  might  have 
been  cited  in  justification  ;  but  it  was  one  more  adcU^d  to 
the  list,  and  a  strong  one.  And  so  that  point  was  made 
good  for  that  time. 

How  she  fared  with  regard  to  the  two  others  will  ap- 
pear in  the  narrative  of  the  proceedings ;  which  I  must 
give  at  some  length,  because  of  the  prominent  and  unex- 
pected part  which  Bacon  played  in  them.  If  my  inter- 
pretation of  the  Queen's  policy  be  correct,  the  course  he 
took  will  be  more  easily  understood. 

The  question  of  supply  was  brought  forward  on  the 
26th  of  February.  Sir  Robert  Cecil  set  forth  at  large 
the  danger  in  which  England  stood  from  the  Kiug  of 
Spain  ;  his  ancient  malice,  visible  in  all  the  proceedings 
of  past  years,  still  as  active  as  ever  ;  his  advantages 
greater  than  ever,  by  reason  of  his  recent  successes  in 
Lorraine  and  Brittany,  his  intrigues  in  Scotland,  and  the 
numbers  of  the  Catholic  party  gradually  increasing.  Sir 
John  Wolley  (another  privy  councillor)  explained  the 
conditions  and  designs  of  the  Leaguers  in  France.  And 
Sir  John  Fortescue  (Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer)  fol- 
lowed with  a  statement  of  the  Queen's  finances,  past  and 
present ;  showing  that  all  had  been  spent  upon  the  great 
services  of  the  kingdom,  —  in  clearing  the  Crown  of 
debt,  in  increasing  the  strength  of  the  navy,  in  assisting 
the  French  king,  and  protecting  the  Netheidands  ;  —  that 
subsidies  did  not  now  yield  above  half  the  sum  which 
they  yielded  in  Henry  VH.'s  time  ;  and  that  all  bor- 
rowed money  had  been  repaid. 

When  the  case  had  been  thus  set  forth  on  behalf  of 
the  government,  and  motion  made  for  "  a  select  and 
grave  Committee  to  consider  of  the  dangers  of  the  realm 
and   of  speedy  supply  and   aid   to   her  Majesty,"  Bacon 


74  BACON'S   ATTITUDE  TOWARD  GOVEltNMENT.       [Book  I. 

(now  knight  of  the  shire  for  MickUesex,  ;uid  therefore 
entitled,  I  suppose,  to  take  a  leading  part  among  the 
independent  members)  I'ose  to  support  the  motion.  Of 
his  speech  only  the  few  opening  sentences  have  been  pre- 
served, and,  strange  to  say,  they  seem  at  first  sight  to 
have  no  bearing  on  the  question  under  discussion.  Speak- 
ing in  favor  of  supply  in  a  Parliament  expressly  called 
not  for  laws  but  money,  all  that  remains  of  his  speech 
relates  not  to  money  but  to  laws.  But  the  truth  was 
(and  this  it  is  which  gives  an  interest  to  the  small  and 
inutilated  fragment  which  has  floated  down  to  us)  that 
he  had  notions  of  his  own  concerning  the  relations  which 
subsisted  between  the  Crown  and  Parliament,  and  the 
courtt'sies  appertaining  to  them,  wliich  the  proceeding  of 
tlui  Queen  and  her  ministers  on  this  occasion  did  not 
(|uito  satisfy.  In  his  later  life  at  least,  he  held  it  for  a 
])()int  of  constitutional  doetrin(;  that  Ix^tween  the"  sov- 
ereign and  the  people  in  a  monarcliy  there  was  a  tie  of 
mutual  obligation  ;  the  sovereign  by  advice  and  (.'oiiscnt 
of  Parliament  making  laws  for  the  benefit  of  his  people, 
and  the  people  by  their  representatives  in  Parliament  su])- 
plying  the  wants  of  the  sovereign  ;  therefore  that  the  vot- 
ing of  money  should  never  be  proclaimed  as  the  aole  cause 
of  calling  a  Parliament,  but  always  accompanied  with 
some  (jther  business  of  state  tending  to  the  good  of  the 
coiimionwealth.^  It  was  also  liis  constant  opinion,  ex- 
pressed both  early  and  late  in  life,  that  no  greater  benefit 
could  be  conferred  f)n  the  commonwealth  than  a  general 
revision  of  the  whole  body  of  laws,  and  the  reduction  rif 
them  into  one  consistent  and  manageablt;  code.  Now  ;i.l- 
thougli  it  cannot  be  said  that  this  Parliament  was  calleil 
for  \U)  business  of  state  (-Xiiept  money,  considering  how 
vitally  the  stat(;  was  interested  in  the  (^ause  I'ur  which  t!ie 
nionev  was  wantiMl,  —  yel,  I  suppose  he  llmnghl  it  unlil, 
that  tli(!  nec(!Hsities  of  lh»!  (!rown  and  the  demand  tor 
'  See  a  luttur  tu  .James  I.,  in  Kll'l,  p.  •>7:i. 


1593.]  BACON'S  SPEECH  ON  MOTION   FOR  SUPPLY.  75 

money  should  be  placed  so  nakedly  in  tlie  foreground, 
and  all.  other  functions  of  Parliament  so  completely  set 
aside,  as  they  seemed  to  be  both  in  the  Lord  Keeper's 
speech  on  opening  the  session,  and  in  those  of  the  pi'ivy 
councillors  on  moving  for  the  committee  of  supply.  Seek- 
ing therefore  to  remove  such  an  impression,  and  remem 
bering  what  the  Lord  Keeper  had  said  about  the  multi- 
plicity of  laws  and  the  expediency  of  abridging  them,  he 
set  that  great  topic  in  the  front  of  his  speech;  and  so 
contrived  not  onl}^  to  draw  attention  towards  the  proj- 
ect itself,  V»ut  also  to  impart  to  the  meeting  between  the 
Queen  and  her  people  a  more  gracious  aspect,  by  sug- 
gesting that  if  she  wished  them  to  make  no  more  laws 
at  that  time,  it  was  not  from  any  forgetfulness  of  their 
just  interest  in  legislation. 

Sucli  I  take  to  be  the  most  probable  explanation  of  the 
apparent  irrelevancy  of  the  commencement  of  Bacon's 
speech  ;  the  end  of  it  being  (as  we  learn  from  the  jour- 
nals) to  enforce  the  necessity  of  "  present  consultation  and 
provision  of  ti*easure  "  to  prevent  "  the  dangers  intended 
against  the  realm  by  the  King  of  Spain,  the  Pope,  and 
other  confederates  of  the  Holy  League."  Of  the  par- 
ticulars we  know  nothing  but  what  is  contained  in  the 
following  imperfect  and  inaccurate  report :  — 

OPENING   OF   SPEECH   ON   MOTION   FOR    SUPPLY. 

"  Mr.  Speaker  :  That  which  these  honorable  pei-- 
sonages  have  spoken  of  their  experience,  may  it  please 
you  to  give  me  leave  to  deliver  of  ray  common  knowl- 
edge. 

"  The  cause  of  the  assembling  of  all  Parliaments  liatli 
been  heretofore  for  Laws  or  Money  ;  the  one  being  the 
sinews  of  Peace,  the  other  of  War.  To  the  one  1  am 
not  privy  ;  but  the  other  I  should  knoAV. 

"  I  did  take  great  contentment  in  her  Majesty's  speeches 
the  other  day  delivered  by  the  Loril  Keeper,  how  that   it 


76  RECOamENDATION   OF  A   D0U13L1-:  SUBSIDY.         LBooK  I. 

was  [fitting  an  abridgment  were  made  of  the  laws  and 
statutes  of  the  realm]  :  a  thing  not  to  be  done  suddenly 
nor  at  one  Parliament  ;  nor  scarce  a  whole  year  would 
suffice,  to  purge  the  statute-book  nor  lessen  the  volume  of 
laws  -  —  being  so  many  in  number  that  neither  common 
people  can  half  practice  them,  nor  the  lawyer  sufficiently 
understand  them  ;  —than  the  which  nothing  should  tend 
more  to  the  eternal  praise  of  her  Majesty. 

"  The  Romans  appointed  ten  men  who  were  to  correct 
and  recall  all  former  laws,  and  set  forth  their  Twelve 
Tables,  so  much  of  all  men  to  be  commended.  The 
Athenienses  likewise  appointed  six  to  that  purpose 
And  Lewis  IX.i  of  France  did  the  like  in  reforming  of 
laws,"  etc. 

Now  to  proceed  with  the  narrative. 

The  committee  was  appointed  without  further  discus- 
sion ;  met  that  afternoon  ;  the  next  day,  which  wa^ 
Tuesday,  brought  up  their  report,  recommending  the 
same  grant  which  had  been  made  by  the  last  Parliament, 
_  two  subsidies  and  four  fifteenths  and  tenths  ;  with  the 
same  condition,  that  the  present  necessity  should  be 
stated  in  the  Bill  as  the  motive  for  so  extraordinary  a 
supply  ;  to  all  which  the  House  assented  without  opposi- 
tion and  appointed  another  committee  to  meet  on  the 
following  Saturday  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  up  the 
articles  and  preamble. 

So  far  all   seemed  to  be  going  smoothly  and    rapidly 
enough.      But  the  Lords  were  impatient.     And  wlu^ther 

.  So  nil  ....  copies.  I  ...li-v.  it  should  l.e  XI.  I  h.v.  folUnv,.  a  MS.  m  ...n 
HarKrav..  Collection  (:J24.  10),  which  a^^rccs,  except  for  a  few  verbal  U(f.^- 
*.c..  with.hccopvin  TowM.scndundD'Kwes.  None  of  the  journals  wh.ch  I 
havv'nT..  with,  i".her  in  print  or  manuscript,  «ivc  any  more,  .he  word.s 
I  hin  brackets  I  hav.  sup  .lied  l.y  conjecture,  some.hin,^  to  that  olTcct  be.ng 
r  c  «ry  to  compie.c  the  L.sc.  Hut  the  inaccuracies  of  this  report  a.e  of  the 
ircTneouen.e  because  .he  substance  of  all  this  will  be  found  hereafter,  .., 
the  TnVo-1  f'-r  »"  Amendment  of  the  Laws,"  .he  "  Offer  of  a  Digest  of 
I^w.H,"  and  oilier  places. 


15U3.]         CONFERENCE  PROPOSED  TOUCHING   SUIi-lDY.  77 

it  were  that  tliey  really  tliouglit  that  the  question  would 
not  bear  three  days'  delay  (which  is  hard  to  believe),  or 
that  they  had  resolved  (which  I  think  more  likely)  to 
seize  the  first  fair  pretext  for  putting  in  their  own  claim 
to  take  part  in  such  deliberations,  —  certain  it  is  that  on 
Thursday  (only  four  days  after  the  first  motion)  they  sent 
a  message  to  the  Commons  reminding  them  of  the  busi- 
ness, saying  that  they  had  expected  to  hear  something 
from  them  before,  and  therefore  had  omitted  as  yet  to 
do  anything  therein  themselves,  and  now  demanding  a 
conference.  To  this  no  objection  was  made.  A  com- 
mittee was  immediately  named  for  the  purpose ;  the 
conference  took  place  the  same  afternoon,  and  the  result 
was  reported  to  the  House  the  next  morning  by  Sir  Rob- 
ert Cecil. 

They  had  been  invited  to  confer,  it  appeared,  for  the 
purpose  of  receiving  some  information  from  the  Lord 
Treasurer,  showing  that  a  double  subsidy  would  not  be 
sufficient  for  the  exigency.  Subsidies,  owing  to  some 
error  or  mismanagement  in  the  assessment,  did  not  now 
yield  so  much  as  they  used  to  do.  The  double  subsidy 
last  granted,  with  its  four  fifteenths  and  tenths,  had  not 
bi'ought  into  the  treasury  more  than  ,£280,000 ;  and 
since  it  was  granted,  the  Queen  had  been  obliged  to 
spend  in  tliese  defensive  wars  above  X  1,030,000  of  her 
own.  Therefore  a  larger  supply  was  requii-ed  now,  and 
a  more  speedy  collection. 

Thus  far  the  proceeding  seems  to  have  been  legitimate 
and  unobjectionable.  These  explanations  were  material 
to  an  understanding  of  the  case ;  the  Lord  Treasurer  was 
the  person  who  could  best  give  them  ;  and  a  conference 
between  the  two  Houses  was,  according  to  the  practice  of 
those  times,  the  constitutional  channel  of  communication. 
Had  they  st()j)[)(>cl  there,  the  Commons  would  have  taken 
the  facts  into  consideration,  and  instructed  their  Com- 
mittee of  Supply  accordingly. 


78  THE  LORD  TREASURER'S  INTIMATION.  [Book  I. 

But  the  Lord  Treasurer,  who  was  the  spokesman, 
went  further ;  and  here  it  was  that  the  Commons  had 
need  to  be  on  their  guard.  He  warned  them,  in  the 
name  of  the  Upper  House,  that  "  their  Lordships  would 
not  in  anywise  give  their  assents  to  pass  any  act  in  their 
own  House  of  less  than  three  entire  subsidies,"  payable 
in  the  three  next  years  at  two  payments  in  each  year,  i 
Whether  they  would  assent  to  so  little  as  three,  he  left 
doubtful.  "  To  what  proportion  of  benevolence,  or  unto 
how  much  their  Lordships  icouhl  give  their  assents  in 
that  behalf,  they  would  not  as  then  show ;"  but  desired 
another  conference. 

Such  was  the  substance  of  the  Lord  Treasurer's  com- 
munication, as  I  gather  it  from  the  memorandum  of  Sir 
Robert  Cecil's  report  entered  in  the  original  journal-book 
of  the  House  of  Commons  ;   and  if  it  was   not  a  proposal 
that  the  two  Houses  should,  at  a  conference,  discuss  the 
question  of  supply  together,  I  am  at  a  loss  for  an  inter- 
pretation of  the  words.     Cecil,  having  finished  his  report, 
made  no  motion  of  his  own,  but  referred  it  to  the  House. 
Bacon,  who  had  been  a  member  of  all  the  committees 
on   this    question,  was    present  at    the    conference,   and 
therefore  had  had  all  the  night  to  consider  what  he  sliculd 
do.     As  his  affairs  then    stood,  it  could   have   been   no 
sliglit  n.atter  which  determined  him  to  oppose  the  Lord 
Treasurer's   ])roposition.       But    the    case    was    critical. 
Once  admit  the  claim  of  the  Lords  to  take  part  in  delib- 
erntions  on  questions  of  supply,  and  half  the  power  of  the 
Commons  would  be  gone.     The  encroaclunent  must  be 
withstood  then  an<l  there.     He  came  prepared;  and   as 

I  "Th.ir  denial 'Msav8  unotlu-r  roport,  Ilar^^ravc  MS.  ^  21)  "was  flat. 
They  ...iulil  i.ot.  nor  th.v  woul.l  not  K've  their  consents  to  less  than  a  treble 
Butn'i.lv  an.l  not  to  a  trehle  nar  a  .,ua.lru|.le,  unless  the  same  were  the  better 
nualified,  Loll,  in  snhstanee  an.l  in  eir.-nn.slanee  of  time."  The  statement  .n 
,he  text  is  taken  frnn.  the  jonrnal-l.ook  of  the  llonse,  as  .(noted  l.y  D  Kwes. 
This  report  is  fron.  a  MS.  journal  kept  l.y  some  member,  and  probably  ^'ives 
more  of  the  w-rds  a.lually  spoken,  Ihou-li  it  n.ay  n.it  represent  more  a.eural.h 
the  general  elfecl. 


1593.]         CONFEKEN'CE  PROPOSED  TOUCHING  SUBSIDY.  79 

soon  as  Cecil  sat  down,  he  rose.  "  He  yielded  to  the 
subsidy,"  —  that  is,  he  was  -willing  to  vote  for  the  addi- 
tional subsidy  which  a])peai*ed  hy  the  statement  of  the 
Lord  Treasurer  to  be  required  by  the  public  service, — 
"  but  niisliked  that  this  House  should  join  with  the 
Upper  House  in  the  granting  of  it.  For  the  custom  and 
privilege,  he  said,  of  this  House  hath  always  been  first  to 
make  offer  of  the  subsidy  from  hence  unto  the  Upper 
House.  And  reason  it  is  that  we  should  stand  upon  our 
privilege.  Seeing  the  burden  resteth  upon  us  as  the 
greater  number,  no  reason  the  thanks  should  be  theirs. 
And  in  joining  with  them  in  this  motion  we  shall  derogate 
from  ourselves  ;  for  the  thanks  will  be  theirs  and  the 
blame  ours,  they  being  the  first  movers.  Wherefore  I 
wish  that  in  this  action  we  should  proceed,  as  heretofore 
we  have  done,  apart  by  ourselves,  and  not  joining  with 
their  Lordships.  And  to  satisfy  them,  who  expect  an 
answer  from  us  to-morrow,  some  answer  would  be  made 
in  all  obsequious  and  dutiful  manner."  And  out  of  his 
bosom  he  drew  an  answer  framed  by  himself,  to  this 
effect,  that  the}'  had  considered  of  their  Lordships'  mo- 
tion, and  thought  upon  it  as  was  fit,  and  in  all  willing- 
ness would  address  themselves  to  do  as  so  great  a  cause 
deserved.  But  to  join  with  their  Lordships  in  this  busi- 
ness they  could  not  but  with  prejudice  to  the  privileges  of 
this  House  ;  wherefore  desired,  as  they  were  wont,  so  that 
now  they  might  proceed  therein  by  themselves  apart 
from  their  Lordships.  "Thus,  I  think,"  he  added,  "we 
may  divide  ourselves  from  their  Lordships,  and  yet  witli- 
out  dissension  ;  for  this  is  but  an  honorable  emulation 
and  division."  To  this  he  cited  a  precedent  in  Henry 
VIH.'s  time,  where  four  of  the  Lords  came  down  into 
the  Lower  House,  and  informed  them  what  necessity  there 
was  of  a  subsidy,  and  thereupon  the  House  took  it  to  con- 
eideration  apart  by  themselves,  and  at  hist  granted  it." 
The  motion  seems  to  have  taken  the  government  part^f 


80 


THE  POINT  AT  ISSUE.  [1^''"^  ^■ 


by  surprise;  for  it   met  with    no  opposition,  but  being 
"well  liked  by  the  House,"  the  Subsidy  Committee  was 
ordered  to  meet  in  the  afternoon  for  the  purpose  of  fram- 
inc.  an  answer,  to  be  reported    to  the   House  the  ^  next 
morning.    The  Committee  met  accordingly  at  two  o  clock 
on  Friday.    But  doubts  being  raised  as  to  the  nature  and 
extent  of   their  commission,  —  some  thinkmg    that    the 
question  was  already  carried  in  favor  of   an  answer  m 
the  spirit  of  Bacon's  note,  and  that  their  business  was 
only  to  agree  upon  the  wording  of  it;   others  that  they 
were  appointed  to  consider  generally  what  answer  they 
thought    fittest,  -  they    parted    for    that    day    without 
n.n-eeing  upon  anything.     On  Saturday  movmng  however 
they  met  again,  and  the  question  being  put  to  the  vote, 
a  majority  of  the  Committee  was  in  favor  of  .m  answer 
to  the  opposite  effect,  namely  that  they  toould  grant  a 
conference.     Sir  Robert  Cecil  reported  their  proceedings 
to  the  House,  and  delivered  this  as  the  veconnnendation 
of  the  Committee.     The  question  was,  whether  it  should 

be  adopted.  .  .  ,      , , 

Now  this  was  precisely  the  proposition  which  should 
have  been  moved  as  an  amendment  to  Bacon's  .notion 
the  morning  before.     The  point  at  issue  was  exactly  the 
8.,„ie,  — Shall  the  Lower  House  consent  to  a  conference 
vvith'the  Uppi-r  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  assenting  to  a 
proposition,  or  discussing  a  question,  of  supi-iv  >      1  hey 
wei-e  not  asked  to  come  an.l  receive  inf..rmation   about 
the  necessities  of  the  kingdom  or  the  state  of  thehna.ices; 
they  had  heard  all  that  at  the  last  conference,  and  bad 
b,...n   willing    to   hear   whatever    else   the    I.or.ls   bad   to 
,,„„nnni.-ate.      Wl.at  they   had  not,  l.ennl   tlu-n  was  the 
:„no„nt  of  subsidy  whi.^h  they  must   vole   if   Uu-y   meant 
,,„.  bill  to  pass:  and  wlut  they  were  now  invited  to  bear 
„„,st  have   b..en   .-itber  ll.at  or  son.etl.ing  bearing  upon 
tlutt    speeili.-     p..i..t.       Still     lberef,.re     the     question     was 

what   answer    tl.ev   sl.onld   send.      r>acon"s  oiu"'-""    ''^"' 


1593.]  THE  OBJECTION  OF  THE  COMMONS.  81 

been  given  already  in  the  House,  and  the  case  being  no 
way  changed,  there  was  no  occasion  for  him  to  speak 
again.  The  other  member  for  Middlesex,  Mr.  Wroth, 
had  voted  with  him  in  committee,  and  now  spoke  against 
the  conference,  as  "  prejudicial  to  the  ancient  liberties 
and  privileges  of  the  House,  and  to  the  authority  of  the 
same."  Mr.  Beale  was  of  the  same  mind,  and  produced 
a  precedent  in  point  from  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  when 
upon  a  like  occasion  the  same  proposal  had  been  made, 
and  upon  the  same  ground  refused,  and  the  refusal  had 
been  allowed  by  the  King  as  just.  Sir  Robert  Cecil  in 
reply  pleaded /or  the  conference,  on  the  ground  that  the 
Lords,  being  some  of  them  privy  councillors,  understood 
both  the  strength  of  the  enemy  and  the  resources  of  the 
kingdom  better  than  the  Commons  could.  But  as  to  any 
misapprehension  of  the  object  of  the  conference,  he  said 
not  a  word.  The  debate  ended  at  last  in  a  resolution 
carried  by  217  to  128,  "That  no  such  conference  should 
be  had."  Whereupon  (to  quote  the  fullest  report  I 
have  met  with,  for  the  terms  of  the  answer  are  impor- 
tant) "  Committees  to  the  number  of  thirty  were  ap- 
pointed to  go  up  to  the  Lords,  and  to  say  that  we  hum- 
bly thanked  their  Lordships  for  imparting  to  us,  at  our 
last  meeting  with  them,  matters  of  great  consideration 
and  needful  for  the  state.  We  would  think  upon  them  ac- 
cordingly as  to  such  causes  appertained.  But  where  they 
desired  our  conference  about  an  aid  and  subsidies  to  be 
yielded  to  the  Queen,  we  would  do  therein  amongst  our- 
selves our  best  endeavors  ;  because  without  breach  of 
privilege  to  our  own  House  we  could  not  have  conference 
with  their  Lordships;  and  for  the  maintenance  of  this 
privilege  some  precedents  have  been  showed  us  in  the 
like  case." 

The  terms  of  the  answer  therefore  left  no  room  for  any 
mistake  as  to  the  nature  and  limits  of  the  objection  which 
the  Commons  took  to  the  proposal  ;  and  if  they  had  mis- 

VOL.    I.  6 


82  THE  CLAIMS   OF  THE   LORDS.  [Book  L 

taken  the  nature  of  the  proposal  itself,  so  that  the  objec- 
tion was  inapplicable,  now  was  the  tune  tc^  set  them 
right  But  no.  The  answer  of  the  Lords  shows  that  the 
nature  of  the  proposal  had  been  understood  quite  cor- 
rectly.    For  the  report  proceeds,  — 

"  This  answer  Sir  John  Fortescu  delivered  to  the  Lords 
from   the  Lower  House,   speaking  for  the   Committees. 
And  the  Lords,  having  received  it  and  considered  it  apart 
after  the  dehvery  of  it,  came  again  and  told  the  Com- 
mittees, that  they  thought  very  well  of  it,  and  took  it  in 
kind  part  that  the  House  did  so  well  accept  of  their  last 
meaning,  and  considered  so  thoroughly  upon  the  things 
delivered ;  and  desired  us  to  go  on  our  course  with  our 
best  endeavors    in    these   great    causes.     But    where  we 
denied  a  conference  with   them  about  the  subsidy,  they 
thouo-ht  that  point  of   honor  aniceness  more  than  needed 
to  be"  stood  upon  ;  for  they  and  we  make  one  Souse,  where- 
fore no  such  scruples  ought  to  be  observed,  that  we  should 
not  confer  together.     It  was  for  the  aid  of  the  realm, 
where  they  had  as  great    an  interest,  bare    as_  great  a 
burden,  as  we  ;   therefore  fittest  we   should  30in.     And 
for  the   precedent  alleged,   they  desire  it  may  be  sent 

them."  ,.    .     ,1  i.  -1. 

How  could  the  Upper  House  more  distinctly  assert  its 
pretension  to  take  part  with  the  Lower  in  deliberations 
concerning  supply?  How  more  distinctly  dispute  the 
privilege  of  the  Commons  to  deal  with  sueh  questions 
"apart  by  themselves,  and  not  joining  with  their  Lord- 
Bhips  *?  "     But  the  Commons  were  not  disposed  to  retreat. 

"This  being  put  to  the  question  (continues  the  re- 
porter), whetlier  the  precedent  should  be  s.-nt,  it  was 
clearly  answered  No."  They  th.M.  merely  ordered  the 
C.nnmittee  of  Supply  to  meet  again  on  Monday  ;  and  so 
Satu relay's  work  ended. 

Sumlav  coming  be.tween  gave  the  Court  tune  to  con- 
Hider.     The   Queen,  to  whom  of   course  everything   was 


1593.]  TACTICS  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  83 

reported,  found  she  had  gone  a  step  too  far.  She  must 
give  way ;  how  to  retreat  without  seeming  to  be  beaten, 
was  tlie  question.  But  this  was  an  art  in  which  she 
excelled,  and  it  may  be  fairly  suspected  that  the  plan  of 
operations  which  commenced  on  Monday  morning  was 
designed  and  guided  by  herself. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Lower  House  was  not  to  be 
pressed  to  submit  its  precedents  to  the  consideration  of 
the  Upper.  That  motion  was  to  be  silently  dropped. 
But  it  was  privately  explained  to  Mr.  Beale  that  the 
precedent  which  he  had  produced  was  not  in  point ;  for 
in  that  case  the  Lords,  having  agreed  among  themselves 
to  a  greater  subsidy  than  the  Commons  had  granted,  in- 
vited them  to  a  conference  in  order  that  they  might  con- 
firm  what  they  had  done  ;  which  was  not  the  present 
proposition  ;  and  he  was  content  to  acknowledge  in  the 
House  that  he  had  mistaken  the  question,  and  that  if  he 
had  understood  it  as  it  was  meant,  he  would  have  been 
of  a  different  opinion. 

If  upon  this  explanation  the  Commons  should  consent 
to  reverse  their  resolution,  so  much  the  better  :  the  prin- 
ciple of  joint  discussion  might  still  be  saved.  But  that 
could  hardly  be  reckoned  upon.  For  their  objection  to 
the  conference  had  not  in  fact  turned  upon  any  such 
point.  They  had  objected,  not  because  they  were  asked 
to  confirm  a  resolution  which  the  Lords  had  taken,  but 
because  they  were  asked  to  join  in  conference  with  them 
about  a  subsidy.  In  the  second  place,  therefore,  the  ob- 
jection, if  persevered  in,  was  to  be  met  by  boldly  declar- 
ing that  it  was  yiot  about  a  subsidy  that  they  had  been 
asked  to  confer  ;  that  the  subject  of  the  proposed  confer- 
ence was  the  dangers  of  the  kingdom  and  the  means  of 
withstanding  them  ;  and  that  if  any  one  had  thought  it 
was  to  be  about  a  subsid}^  he  was  mistaken.  To  do  this 
after  what  had  passed  would  require  a  firm  countenance  ; 
but  once  done  it  would  make  all  the  rest  easy;  and  since 


84  THE  METHOD  OF  PROCEDURE.  [Book  I. 

it  would  involve  a  virtual  concession  of  the  entire  prin- 
ciple for  which  the  Lower  House  contended,  they  would 
let  it  pass  if  they  were  wise. 

The  plan  of  operation  having  been  thus  laid  (so  at 
least  I  suspect ;  for  we  have  no  means  of  knowing  what 
did  actually  pass  between  the  Queen  and  her  ministers, 
but  are  left  to  infer  it  from  the  proceedings  whi.',h 
followed),  the  business  was  opened  on  Monday  morning 
by  an  explanation  from  Mr.  Beale.  He  said  that  since 
the  decision  of  the  House  was  supposed  to  have  been  in- 
fluenced by  the  precedent  which  he  had  quoted,  it  was 
right  they  should  know  that  he  had  quoted  it  under  a 
misapprehension  of  the  question  under  discussion.  He 
showed  in  what  respects  his  precedent  failed  to  fit  the 
present  case ;  and  wished  that,  if  any  had  been  led  by 
him,  they  would  now  be  satisfied  ;  for  if  he  had  conceived 
the  matter  aright,  he  should  himself  have  thought  dif- 
ferently. "  There  being  but  a  conference  desired  of  the 
Lords,  and  no  confirming  of  anything  they  had  done,  he 
thought  they  might,  and  it  was  fit  they  should,  confer." 
The  explanation  being  made,  it  was  immediately  moved 
by  two  of  the  privy  councillors  (Sir  Thomas  Heneage  and 
Sir  John  Wolley)  tliat  Saturday's  resolution  be  reversed, 
as  having  proceeded  upon  a  mistake. 

For  this  however  the  House  (as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected) was  not  quite  ready.  What  the  precise  mistake 
had  been,—  to  what  therefore,  if  they  revoked  their  No, 
they  would  be  imderstood  as  saying  Yes,—  was  not  yet 
clear.  And  to  remove  all  doubt,  Sir  Henry  Unton,  after 
reciting  the  wlu.le  proceeding,  moved  that  they  should 
agree  to  ''  confer  with  the  Lonls  about  a  subsidy,  hut  not 
in  any  Hort  to  he  conformed  therein  unto  them:'  Hereupon 
Sir  Robert  Cecil,  finding  T  siii-posc  that  they  wer(>  fall- 
ing back  into  the  chl  disput.',  resolved  at  last  to  threw 
the  disputed  i)oint  fairly  ()V(;rboard  ;  wondered  what  the 
last  speaker  could  be  thinking  of ;  ''  his  motion   was  that 


1593.]  THE  STAND  TAKEN  BY  THE  COMMONS.  85 

they  should  confer  with  the  Lords  about  a  subsidy,  but 
not  conclude  a  subsidy,  with  them  ;  which  motion 
seemed  contrary  to  his  meaning,  or  else  it  was  rnore  than 
ever  tvas  meant,  for  it  was  neve)-  desired  of  them  by  the 
Lords  to  confer  about  a  submit/.''''  This  avowal  removed 
at  once  all  obstacles  to  agreement,  and  when,  upon  the 
motion  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  "  the  Speaker  put  the 
question,  whether  they  would  have  a  general  conference 
with  the  Lords  or  no  ?  it  was  answered  by  all.  Aye. " 
A  message  was  sent  accordingly,  which  was  graciously, 
received,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  conference  should 
take  place  next  day. 

Still  it  was  necessary  to  be  watchful,  for  still  there  was 
room  for  more  misunderstanding.  They  had  agreed  to 
confer;  but  "what  (asked  Sir  Thomas  Heneage)  are  we 
to  confer  upon?  For  either  we  must  conform  ourselves 
to  somewhat  that  they  will  say,  or  else  we  must  deliver 
them  somewhat  that  we  will  say  ;  for  we  desiring  their 
conference,  and  to  come  with  nothing  to  say  to  them,  will 
be  unfit  for  us."  A  statement  of  the  case  so  obviously 
inaccurate,  that  one  can  hardly  help  suspecting  a  design 
in  it ;  the  rather  because,  when  it  was  very  justly  objected 
to  as  "  a  mistaking  of  the  thing  agreed  upon,"  the  ob- 
jector was  suddenly  called  to  account  by  two  of  the  privy 
councillors  for  imputing  a  mistake  to  the  Vice-Chamber- 
lain, and  that  with  a  degree  of  unnecessary  sharpness 
which  is  must  easily  explained  by  supposing  that  the  ob- 
jection was  fatal  to  their  scheme.  But  however  that  may 
be,  it  was  resolved  at  last  that  they  should  have  authority 
to  confer  generally  about  the  dangers  and  remedies,  but 
"  uot  in  any  manner  of  wise  to  conclude  anything  partic- 
ularly "  without  first  reporting  the  whole  proceeding  to 
the  House  and  receiving  further  orders. 

With  this  commission  they  went  up  to  the  Lords,  and 
told  them  that  "  if  they  desired  to  enter  into  speech  of 
Uie  great  cause,  they  were  ready  to  hear  them.      lUit  if 


86  CLAIM  OF  THE  LORDS   SILENTLY  DROPPED.  [Book  I. 

they  would  have  them  to  descend  into  consideration  of  it 
amongst  themselves,  they  desired  a  little  respite,  and  by 
Thursday  would  bring  them  a  resolute  determination." 

And  now  what  had  the  Lords  to  say,  which  they  might 
not  have  said  last  Thursday?  Of  the  subsidies  not  a 
word.  Not  a  word  of  what  they  had  said  before  on  that 
subject  (if  two  independent  reports  of  the  conference 
may  be  trusted)  was  repeated ;  not  a  word  added  to  it. 
But  they  had  to  inform  them  of  "  divers  dangers  not 
lieard  of  before  ;"  a  new  sum  of  50,000  crowns  had  been 
sent  into  Scotland  by  Spain  ;  the  Scotch  King  had  gone 
into  the  north,  and  there  was  fear  that,  willingly  or  un- 
willingly, he  would  be  taken  by  the  lords  who  were  com- 
bined against  him.  These  and  the  like  intelligences  they 
imparted  to  the  Commons  for  their  consideration;  con- 
sented to  give  them  a  clear  day  to  consult  upon  the  case; 
and  expected  their  answer  on  Thursday  afternoon. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  Lords  had  at  last  silently 
abandoned  their  former  position  ;  for  what  they  now  so 
easily  assented  to  was  in  fact  all  that  the  Commons  upon 
Bacon's  motion  had  asked.  The  communication  from  the 
Upper  House  had  been  received  ;  they  would  take  it  into 
consideration  apart  by  themselves. 

The  point  of  privilege  being  now  no  longer  in  the 
way,  the  origiiud  question  came  on  again,  and  was  re- 
ferred to  the  same  Committees,  who  were  ordered  to  meet 
on  Wednesday  afternoon,  with  a  general  commission  "  to 
confer  of  all  matters  of  rcnu-dics."  And  now  Bacon,— 
whose  name  has  not  been  mentioned  in  any  of  the  pro- 
ceedings since  Friday,  wIkmi  Ik;  raised  the  question  which 
we    have    just    seen    settled, —api)ears   again   upon    the 

stage. 

The  Lords  had  in  their  first  eonferenci'  demanded  a  bill 
of  not  less  than  three  sid)sidies,  payable  in  thnic  years. 
Now  the  invariable  custom  had  hitherto  been  to  allow 
two  years  for  the  payment  of  each  subsidy.     The  jn-opo- 


1593.]  THE  MOTION  FOR  A  GRANT  OF  SUBSIDY.  87 

sition  would  therefore  involve  a  double  innovation.  Not 
only  the  total  amount  of  taxation  ordinarily  imposed  by 
one  Parliament  would  be  trebled  (which  if  Parliaments 
were  less  frequent  might,  as  far  as  the  burden  went,  have 
come  to  the  same  thing),  but  the  amount  payable  in  each 
of  these  three  years  would  be  doubled.  And  it  might 
well  be  thought  a  hazardous  experiment,  however  unex- 
ceptionable the  purpose  and  however  popular  the  occasion, 
to  introduce  two  such  novelties  at  once  ;  first  a  breach  of 
constitutional  usage,  which  in  so  tender  a  matter  might 
naturally  awaken  jealousy  in  the  people  ;  and  next,  at  the 
■very  same  instant  to  send  the  tax-gatherer  among  them 
tc  demand  twice  as  much  as  they  had  ever  before  been 
called  on  to  pay.  The  latter  was  probably  the  more  haz- 
ardous step  of  the  two ;  for  it  could  hardly  be  known  till 
tried  whether  the  people  could  pay  so  much;  and  accord- 
ingly it  was  upon  this  point  that  dispute  arose  in  the 
Committee.  Indeed  the  Government  party  themselves 
so  far  modified  the  proposal  as  to  allow  four  years  in- 
stead of  three  for  the  payment  of  the  three  subsidies. 
And  this,  as  I  gather,  was  the  motion  submitted  to  the 
Committee. 

Now  Bacon,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  from  the  first 
declared  his  assent  to  the  treble  subsidy ;  but  the  innova- 
tion in  the  mode  of  collection,  even  thus  modified,  was 
greater  than  he  was  prepared  to  advise ;  and  after  a 
speech  from  Mr.  Heale  in  favor  of  a  still  larger  grant 
than  the  one  proposed,  —  which  he  contended  that  the 
country,  being  so  much  richer  than  heretofore,  could  well 
afford,  —  he  rose  at  once  to  oppose  it.  The  note  wliicli 
has  been  preserved  of  his  speech  runs  thus:  — 

SPEECH   ON  MOTION    FOR   A     GRANT    OF    THREE   SUBSI- 
DIES,   PAYABLE   IN   FOUR   YEARS. 
"  ]\Ir.  Francis  Bacon  assented  to  three  subsidies,  but 
not  to  the  payment  un:]er  six  years;  and  to   this   pro- 


88  BACON'S  AMENDMENT.  [Book  I. 

pounded  three  reasons,  which  he  desired  might  be  an- 
swered. 

"  1.  Impossibility  or  difficulty. 

"  2.  Danger  and  discontentment. 

"  3.  A  better  manner  of  supply  than  subsidy. 

"  For  impossibility,  the  poor  men's  rent  is  such  as  they 
are  not  able  to  yield  it,  and  the  general  commonalty  is 
not  able  to  pay  so  much  upon  the  present.  The  gentle- 
men must  sell  their  plate  and  the  farmers  their  brass 
pots  ere  this  will  be  paid.  And  as  for  us,  we  are  here  to 
search  the  wounds  of  the  realm  and  not  to  skin  thera 
over  ;  wherefore  we  are  not  to  persuade  ourselves  of  their 
wealth  more  than  it  is. 

"  The  danger  is  this  :  we  [shall  thus]  breed  discontent- 
ment in  the  people.  And  in  a  cause  of  jeopardy,  her 
Majesty's  safety  must  consist  move  in  the  love  of  her 
people  than  in  their  wealth.  And  therefore  [we  should 
beware]  not  to  give  them  cause  of  discontentment.  In 
granting  ^  these  subsidies  thus  we  run  into  [two]  perils. 
The  first  [is  that]  in  putting  two  payments  into  one 
[year],  we  make  it  a  double  subsidy  ;  for  it  maketh  4«. 
in  the  pound  a  payment.  Tiie  second  is  that  this  being 
granted  in  this  sort,  other  princes  hereafter  will  look  for 
the  like  ;  so  we  shall  put  an  ill  precedent  upon  ourselves 
and  to  our  posterity  ;  and  in  histories  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  of  all  nations  the  English  care  not  to  be  subject, 
base,  taxable,  etc. 

"The  manntir  of  supply  may  be  by  levy  or  imposi- 
tion wh(!n  nc»'d  shall  most  recjuire.  So  when  her  Maj- 
esty's coffers  are  empty,  they  may  he  iml)nrsed  by  these 
means.     ^ 

So  ends  tin;  note  ;  the  last  p;iragr;ii)h  hrcaking  olT,  as 
it  wouhl  seem  abruptly  ;  and  not  giving  even  the  sub- 
Btance  (so  at  least  I  inhr  IVoni  rompaiing  it  with  Bacon's 

1  Pnyinr/  in  MS. 

2  The  words  within  brackets  supplied  by  conjecture. 


1593.]  THE  OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  BILL.  89 

own  words  in  a  letter  written  shortly  after,  which  will 
appear  in  its  place)  of  the  proposition  with  which  he 
concluded  ;  which  I  think  was  this  ;  that  tivo  subsidies 
should  be  granted  and  raised  in  the  ordinary  way  ;  but 
that  some  difference  should  be  made  with  regard  to  the 
third,  with  a  view  partly  to  mark  it  as  extraordinary 
(for  the  mere  insertion  of  a  proviso  that  it  was  not  to  be 
a  precedent,  though  it  might  do  for  once,  would  if  often 
repeated  lose  all  its  value,  and  pass  into  a  precedent  it- 
self), and  partly  to  prevent  the  burden  from  falling  upon 
the  poorer  classes.^  But  of  the  exact  terms  of  his  amend- 
ment no  record  has  been  preserved. 

How  far  these  objections  were  just,  it  is  not  easy  at 
this  distance  of  time  to  judge.  But  that  they  were  urged 
out  of  a  sincere  apprehension  that  the  measure  proposed 
was  hazardous,  and  rather  to  save  the  government  from 
embarrassments  to  come  than  to  obstruct  them  at  the 
moment,  no  one  I  think  can  doubt  who  considers  Ba- 
con's position,  and  reads  the  record,  imperfect  as  it  is,  of 
the  proceedings  which  followed.  We  may  not  indeeil 
conclude  that  he  was  the  only  speaker  who  opposed  the 
proposition  of  the  government  in  the  Committee :  for 
many  speeches  may  have  been,  and  some  probably  were, 
made  of  which  we  have  no  account ;  but  when  we  find 
that,  of  the  only  speakers  who  are  mentioned  as  having 
risen  after  him,  four  addressed  themselves  directly  to  an- 
swer his  arguments,  and  the  other  four  all  spoke  in  favor 
of  the  grant,  only  recommending  some  independent  meas- 
ures to  accompany  it ;  and  that  a  proposition  to  grant 
three  subsidies  and  six  fifteenths  and  tenths, — payable, 
the  first  at  a  single  payment  in  the  first  year,  the  second 
at  a  single  payment  in  the  second  year,  the  third  at  two 

1  "  It  is  true  that,  from  the  beginniiifj,  whatsoever  was  above  a  double  sub- 
sidy I  did  wi-sli  mii;ht  for  precedent's  salce  appear  to  be  extraordinary,  and  for 
discontent's  sake  inij^ht  not  be  levied  upon  the  poorer  sort."  —  Letter  to  Burgli- 
\ey,  undated.     See  p.  98. 


90  INCREASE  OF  TAXATION.  [Book  I. 

payments  in  the  third  and  fourth  years,  —  was  agreed  to 
without  a  division  in  the  Committee,  and  confirmed  "  by 
all  without    any  contradiction "    in   the    whole    House  ; 
yve  may  at  least  conclude  that  there  was  no  popular  party 
in  opposition   strong  enough  to  be  worth  conciliating  at 
the  expense  of  offending  the  party  in  power.     The  result 
of  the  experiment  proved  indeed  that  he  was  mistaken  in 
thinking  that  the  country  could  so   ill  bear  such  an  in- 
crease of  taxation  ;   for  though  the  struggle  in  anticipa- 
tion of  which  it  was  imposed  never  came,  and  during  the 
two  years  in  which  the  double  payment  was  exacted  in- 
ternal peace  gave  leisure  enough  for  discontent  to  express 
itself,  it  does  not  appear  that  any  difhculty  was  experi- 
enced in  the  collection,  or  that  the  overpressure  of  subsi- 
dies (though  the  burden  was  increased  instead  of  dimin- 
ished  during  the  remaining  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign) 
ever  took  a  prominent  place  among  grievances.     But  the 
mistake  (if  mistake  it  was)  was  a  natural  one,  and  shared 
by  many.     It  is  evident  from  the  records  which  remain 
of  the  speeches  both  in  this  Parliament  and  the  last,  that 
the  continual  increase  of  taxation  ^  was  a  subject  of  gen- 
eral  anxiety  among  the  Members.     And   it  was  one  on 
which  Bacon   might  easily  suppose  himself  in  some  re- 
spects better  able  to  form  an  opinion  than  the  Queen  or 
her  ministers.     As  a  Member   of   the  Commons,  now  of 
some  years'  experience,  and  representing  such  constitu- 
encies as  Liverpool   and  Middlesex;   as  a  lawyer,  who 
heard  the  talk  of  the   Inns  of   Court   and  Westminster 
Hall;  as  a  poor   man,    before  whom   people  would    talk 
without  reserve  ;  as  a  seeker  f(«r  knowlcdg"'  in  all  quar- 
ters, whereby  \u'.  was  brought  into  familiar  communica- 
tion with  craftsmen  as  well  as  learned  men  ;   he  had  op- 

1  During  tho  first  twontv-six  yours  of  Klizal.ctl.'s  rdRn,  only  six  subsidies 
liarl  been  granted,  tbe  intervals  bHwc-n  one  nnd  aiK-llHr  bcinf,'  frf^'xT'iHy  f""' 
»nd  som.aiinoH  live  rears.  During  the  last  eifjlit  f..ur  iiad  been  f,'ranled  ;  n.ore 
Iban  double  tbe  averajje.  Du.in-  tbe  next  twelve,  there  were  grante.l  no  lesi 
Iban  ten  ;  nearly  quadruple. 


1593.]  THE  TRIPLE  SUBSIDY  PASSED.  91 

j)ortiuiities  of  feeling  the  popular  pulse  which  greater 
persons  could  not  have.  And  thinking  the  measure  pro- 
posed by  the  (jovernment  hazardous,  he  recommended 
another  which  he  thought  safer  and  5-et  sufficient  for  the 
occasion.  Being  out-voted,  liowever,  he  acquiesced  in 
the  decision  and  offered  no  further  obstruction. 

On  Thursday,  at  the  hour  appointed,  the  resolution  of 
the  Commons  was  signified  to  the  Lords,  and  received 
with  expressions  studiously  framed  to  efface  all  traces  of 
the  previous  misunderstanding  ;  the  Commons  "  desiring 
their  Lordships'  correspondency  with  them  in  this  their 
cau^e^''  and  at  the  same  time  intimating  a  hope  that  "  in 
some  other  things  which  they  had  not  yet  resolved  "  they 
would  "  join  with  them  in  recommending  the  matters  to 
her  Majesty  ;"  the  Lords,  on  their  part,  acknowledging 
that  the  offer  of  subsidy  "  came  from  them  as  feeling  and 
understanding  the  dangers  they  were  in,"  praising  their 
zeal,  and  adding  that  "  they  would  commend  nothing  unto 
them,  because  they  did  perceive  it  needless."  Thus  all 
was  in  tune  again.  The  Bill  —  after  a  little  delay  in  ar- 
ranging details,  some  of  which  were  new,  but  without  any 
further  dispute  on  the  main  points  —  passed  through  its 
regular  stages,  and  was  in  due  time  presented  by  the 
Speaker  to  the  Queen  ;  who  (after  a  slight  rebuke  con- 
veyed by  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  Keeper  to  "  some  per- 
sons,"—  meaning  Bacon,  —  "  who  had  seemed  to  regard 
their  countries,  and  made  their  necessity  more  than  it 
was,  forgetting  the  necessity  of  the  time  "),  received  it 
in  her  own  person  with  all  thanks  and  gracious  acknowl- 
edgment. And  on  the  whole  she  had  good  reason  to  be 
satisfied.  The  project  of  introducing  a  custom  of  joint 
consultation  between  the  two  Houses  in  matters  of  sup- 
ply had  indeed  failed,  and  the  Commons  remained  in 
secure  possession  of  their  privilege ;  but  the  prescription 
which  forbade  one  Parliament  to  grant  more  than  one 
Bubsidy  was  effectually  overthrown,  which  was  a  bettei 


92  CONDUCT  OF  COKE  AS  SPEAKER.  [Book  I. 

thing  ;  for  subsequent  experience  showed  that  when  their 
privUege  was  not  questioned,  they  were  far  from  nig- 
gardly in  the  use  of  it. 

And  her  authority  to  determine  the  limits  of  liberty  of 
speech  in  the  House,  which  had  been  sufficiently  asserted 
in  the  imprisonment  of  Peter  Wentworth,  received  a  fresh 
illustration  shortly  afterwards  in  a  case  still  more  notable 
by  reason  of  the  part  which  the  Speaker  had  to  play  m 
it, —  that  Speaker  being  no  other  than  Edward  Coke, 
—  who  had  been  Solicitor  General  since  June,  and  as- 
pired to  be  Attorney  General  upon  the  next  vacancy, 
of   which  there  was  now  an  immediate   prospect  ;   for 
the  IMastership  of  the  Rolls  was  already  vacant  by  the 
death  of  Sir  Gilbert  Gerrard  on   the   4th  of    February 
preceding.     Coke  had  had  no  experience  in  Parharaent ; 
but  had^got  up  the  precedents  and  was  ready  in  every 
emergency    to   lay  down  the    law;    and   what   with   his 
great'' reputation,  what  with  his  confidence  and  force  of 
will,  what  with  his  dexterity,  he  contrived  to  keep  the 
House  in  very  good   order,  and   proved  himself  a  most 
effective  ally  of  the  Government.     He  is  accused  of  hav- 
incr  on  more  than  one  occasion  prevented  an  inconvenient 
dtTbate  or  an  adverse  vote  by  "overreaching"  the  House  in 
the  subtle  propounding  of  the  question  :  but  in  this  case 
his  course  was  direct  and  his  meaning  unmistakable.     A 
motion  had  been   made  (2Ttli   February)  by  Mr.   Morns, 
Attorney  of  the  Court  of  Wards,  — a  lawyer  of  very  lugli 
characteV,-  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill  to  restrain  certain 
abuses  of  authority  practiced  by  the  Ecclesiastical  Com- 
mission.     This    being    a    forhiddrn    subject,   for    raising 
which,  that  day  six  years,  four  m.Mubers  had  been  sent 
to  the   Tower,^  the   liill   was   objected   to  by  the  more 
moderate  of  the  Government  party  on  that  ground  ;  and 
Sir  R.A.ert  Cecil,  observing   that   "  it  sc-emed  to  contam 
things  needful,"    proposed  to  avoid  the  ditliculty  by  hav 

1  See  above,  p-  72. 


1593]  THE  QUEENS  MESSAGE  BY  COKE.  93 

ing  it  first  "  comraencled  to  the  Queen  "'  privately,  that 
so  it  might  be  "  recommended  "  by  her  to  them  ;  in  which 
behalf  he  offered  his  own  services.  Here,  as  the  ques- 
tion seemed  to  be  turning  upon  a  point  of  order  or  privi- 
lege, Coke,  though  not  appealed  to,  felt  called  upon  to 
give  an  opinion  ;  but  first,  because  the  Bill  was  long  and 
had  many  parts,  so  that  '•  if  they  put  him  presently  to 
o])en  it,  he  could  not  (he  said)  so  readily  understand  it 
and  do  it  as  he  should,"  he  was  allowed  to  take  it  home 
to  read,  the  debate  being  in  the  meantime  adjoui-ned. 
He  had  scarcely  read  it  through,  when  a  special  messen- 
ger summoned  him  to  the  Queen.  She,  to  his  great  com- 
fort did  not  ask  to  see  the  Bill  (which  he  had  promised 
that  none  but  himself  should  see),  but  only  to  know 
"  what  were  the  things  in  it  that  were  spoken  to  by  the 
House."  Which  having  heard,  she  commanded  him  to 
tell  them  from  her  that  it  was  in  her  power  to  call  Par- 
liaments, in  her  power  to  end  them,  in  her  power  to  as- 
sent or  dissent  to  anything  done  in  them ;  that  havmg  de- 
clared her  pleasure  by  the  Lord  Keeper,  namely,  '•  that 
it  was  not  meant  they  should  meddle  with  causes  of  state 
or  matters  ecclesiastical,"  she  "  wondered  any  could  be 
so  forgetful  of  her  commandment  to  attempt  a  thing " 
which  she  had  so  expressly  forbidden  ;  finally,  to  prevent 
all  further  misunderstanding,  "  her  present  charge  and 
express  command  was  that  no  Bill  touching  the  said 
matters  of  state  or  reformation  in  causes  ecclesiastical  be 
exhibited."  All  this  she  commanded  the  Speaker  to  de- 
liver as  from  herself  to  "  the  body  of  the  realm,"  as  she 
called  them.  All  this  he  delivered  faithfully  ;  adding 
only  for  himself  that  "  upon  his  allegiance  he  was  C(Mn- 
manded,  if  any  such  Bill  were  exhibited,  not  to  read  it," 
and  leaving  them  to  conclude  that  he  had  no  dut}*  but  to 
obey.  All  this  the  House  heard  without  remonstrance  in 
word  or  deed.  So  that  a  precedent  more  full  and  une- 
quivocal in  favor  of  the  Queen's  right  to  detcruiinc  what 


94  COKE'S   INFLUENCE  IN  THE  DEBATE.  [Book  I. 

subjects  should  be  discussed  in  Parliament  and  what  not, 
could  hardly  have  been  devised.  The  iniprisonraent  of 
Peter  Wentworth  and  his  friends  a  few  days  before  did 
not  directly  raise,  and  therefore  could  not  directly  settle 
the  question  ;  for  the  House  had  avoided  the  difficulty  by 
affecting  not  to  know  what  their  members  had  been  im- 
prisoned for.i  Now  they  had  no  such  subterfuge.  The 
Queen's  formal  message  through  the  Speaker  left  no  room 
for  doubt  either  as  to  the  fact  that  she  was  interfering 
vnth  their  proceedings,  or  as  to  the  grounds  upon  which 
she  claimed  the  right  to  interfere.  Nor  was  it  a  trifling 
increase  of  weight  which  the  precedent  gained  from  the 
part  which  Coke  had  to  take  in  it.  For  so  ready  as  he 
was  to  interpose  his  opinion  in  the  debates  of  the  House 
whenever  any  question  of  law  or  usage  gave  him  an  op- 
portunity, his  acquiescence  in  a  course  of  silent  submis- 
sion on  this  occasion  could  hardly  go  for  less  than  an  ad- 
mission on  his  part  that  the  Queen  had  the  right  which 
she  claimed.  And  though  it  be  true  that  in  his  later 
life  he  decided  the  question  the  other  way ,2  we  are  not 
therefore  justified  in  doubting  that  his  admission  was  on 
this  occasion  sincere  and  conscientious.  It  is  certain  that 
many  similar  acts  might  have  been  cited  in  defense  of  the 
Queen's  proceeding,  and  if  the  question  had  at  that 
time  been  determined  by  the  preponderance  of  prece- 
dents, it  would  probably  have  been  carried  in  her  favor. 

1  See  above,  p.  72. 

2  Inst.,  part  iv.,  chap.  1.  "  This  "  (the  Speaker's  petition  on  heinji  presented 
to  the  Kinfj)  "is  in  the  Parliament  Rolls  called  a  Protestation,  in  re.spcct  of  the 
first  part,"  i.e.  that  the  Coinnions  may  have  free  s<)eech,  etc  ;  "the  nature  of 
which  is  to  be  the  excliisinn  of  a  conclusion;  and  licrein,  that  the  House  of 
Commons  be  not  anidnditd  to  speak  only  of  those  thinijs  which  the  Kintj  or  Lord 
Cliancellor  hulh  deliceri'il  to  them  to  be  the  cnusen  of  the  cidUurj  of  this  Court  of 
Parliament,  but  in  a  Parliamentary  course  of  all  other  arduous  and  urjcent  busi- 
ness, whicii  principally  consists  of  these  five  branches,"  etc.;  the  stale  of  the 
Church  if  Knijliiid  beinn  expressly  n)entioned  as  one. 

His  argument  turns  chiefly  upon  the  terms  used  in  the  writs  of  summons,  and 
is  by  no  means  so  conclusive  as  to  justify  us  in  assuming  that  he  saw  the  force 
of  it  in  15!j;j.  It  is.  in  truth,  one  of  those  arguments  which  do  very  well  for  the 
stronger  party,  but  are  worth  little  or  nothing  in  the  mouth  of  the  weaker. 


1593.]  BACON  AND  COKE  AS   COMPETITORS.  95 

But  whether  he  were  right  or  wrong  as  regarded  the 
constitutional  point,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  was 
right  as  regarded  his  own  prospects  of  promotion.  His 
conduct  as  Speaker,  besides  being  good  service  in  itself, 
had  given  token  of  a  serviceable  disposition,  and  contained 
promise  of  merits  to  come  as  well  as  proof  of  merits  past. 
And  therefore  it  may  seem  strange  that,  when  it  was  re- 
solved to  promote  the  Attorney  General  to  the  vacant 
mastership  of  the  Rolls,  the  Queen  should  have  hesitated 
whom  to  make  Attorney.  That  her  choice  settled  at  last 
upon  Coke  need  surprise  no  one.  But  that  Bacon  was 
put  forward  and  upheld  for  a  whole  year  as  a  likely  com- 
petitor, is  a  fact  which  calls  for  explanation.  Coke  was 
in  the  very  prime  of  life,  and  though  rather  young  for 
the  office  (being  only  forty-one),  his  reputation  was  al- 
ready so  great,  his  professional  learning  and  experience  so 
extensive,  and  his  mastei-y  of  all  the  weapons  of  his  craft 
so  perfect,  that  youth  was  in  his  case  no  disadvantage ; 
his  energy  was  unrivalled ;  his  constitution  equal  to  any 
quantity  of  work ;  he  had  incurred  no  suspicion  of  popu- 
larity ;  and  his  devotion  to  the  service  of  the  Crown  was 
not  likely  to  be  interfered  with  either  by  nice  scruples  or 
by  alien  interests.  Bacon  was  nine  years  younger;  had 
had  little  or  no  practice  in  the  Coui'ts;  what  proof  he 
had  given  of  professional  proficiency  was  confined  to  his 
readings  and  exercises  in  Gray's  Inn ;  his  influence  as  a 
speaker  in  the  House  of  Commons  would  be  of  no  avail, 
for  the  Attorney  General  was  not  then  considered  eligi- 
ble ;  law,  far  from  being  his  only,  was  not  even  his  favor- 
ite, study ;  his  constitution  was  delicate  and  his  health 
uncertain ;  his  head  was  full  of  ideas  so  new  and  large, 
that  to  most  of  those  about  him  they  must  have  seemed 
visionary  ;  he  had  just  shown  that  he  was  not  to  be  reck- 
oned upon  even  as  a  supporter,  on  all  occasions,  of  the 
Government,  much  less  as  an  unscrupulous  partisan  or 
obedient  instrument ;  and  he  was  at  this  very  time  and 


96  THE  WEIGHT  OF  BACON'S  CLAIMS.  [Book  I. 

for  that  very  thing  an  object  of  the  Queen's  marked  and 
serious  displeasure.  How  cauie  such  a  man  at  such  a 
time  to  be  so  much  as  proposed  or  seriously  thought  of  as 
a  fit  competitor  with  Coke  for  such  an  office  as  that  of 
Attorney  General  ?  The  true  answer  I  suspect  is,  that 
the  Queen  knew  them  both,  and  was  aware  not  only  of 
some  very  great  merits  in  Bacon  which  were  not  in  Coke, 
but  also  of  some  very  great  defects  in  Coke  which  were  not 
in  Bacon.  Such  merits  and  such  defects  there  certainly 
were,  as  after-trial  abundantly  proved  —  merits  and  de- 
fects sufficient  in  my  opinion  (the  nature  of  the  times 
and  the  duties  of  the  office  considered)  to  have  turned 
the  scale  in  favor  of  the  younger  man,  the  less  learned 
lawyer,  and  the  more  scrupulous  politician.  For  Coke 
was,  from  defect  of  judgment,  always  putting  himself  in 
the  wrong,  and  from  defects  of  temper,  always  turning 
men's  hearts  against  him  ;  whereas  Bacon's  judgment 
rarely  failed  to  guide  him  to  the  most  impregnable  posi- 
tion which  his  case  contained ;  and  his  temper  never  be- 
trayed him  into  the  use  of  language  jnstly  offensive  or 
needlessly  irritating.  Of  this  the  Queen  had  })robably 
seen  something,  but  not  all ;  and  it  is  to  her  partial  ap- 
prehension of  the  truth  that  I  attribute  the  difficulty  she 
found  in  making  up  her  mind. 

At  whos(!  suggestion  liacon  was  proposed  for  Attorney 
(his  ])retensions  to  the  Solicitorship  were  obvious  and 
natural),  it  is  not  difficult  to  guess.  The  Earl  of  Essex 
had  every  motive  for  wishing  his  fri(!nd  in  the  higlier 
office.  He  really  bt'lievcd  him  to  be  the  fitter  man,  he 
knew  him  to  be  affectionately  attached  to  himself,  the 
mere  reputation  of  })rocuring  such  an  aj)p<)intiHent  und(;r 
such  circumstances  would  draw  all  suitois  into  liis  ser- 
vice, and  his  was  a  temper  and  a  time  of  life  uj)()n  which 
obstacles  act  as  inccnitives.  The  greatest  obstacle  was 
the  offense  which  the  Queen  liad  taken  at  Bacon's  con- 
duct  in    Parliament  ;   but   Essex's   strength    was   in    her 


1593.]  BACON'S  DEFENSE  OF  HIS  SPEECH.  97 

affection,  and  his  pride  in  subduing  her  inclinations  to 
his  own. 

Her  displeasure  was  no  secret.  Bacon  had  heard  of  it 
from  Burghley  and  written  him  a  letter  in  explanation, 
the  tone  of  which  is  very  remarkable  ;  remarkable  not 
only  for  the  absence  of  all  expressions  implying  regret 
for  what  he  had  done  or  intention  to  do  otherwise  in  fu- 
ture (which  is  the  less  surprising,  because  as  he  could 
have  had  no  motive  for  what  he  did  except  a  conviction 
that  it  was  right,  so  nothing  had  happened  since  to  alter 
his  opinion),  but  also  for  his  apparent  unconsciousness  of 
having  given  any  just  cause  of  offense.  He  writes  as  if 
he  thought  it  strange  that  any  fault  should  be  found  with 
a  member  of  Parliament  for  moving  an  amendment  which 
he  honestly  believed  to  be  an  improvement  upon  the 
original  motion,  —  as  if  his  opposition  to  the  Government 
measure  could  require  no  justification  even  in  the  eyes  of 
ministers  beyond  an  assurance  that  he  really  disapproved 
of  it.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  for  thinking  that  his  sur- 
prise was  affected.  For  when  we  remember  that  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Commons  were  then  quite  private,  and 
that  a  member  of  the  House  had  no  more  right  to  publish 
abroad  what  had  been  said  within  its  walls,  than  a  privy 
councillor  to  divulge  the  seci-ets  of  the  Council  Table,  we 
ma}'^  understand  how  this  might  really  be  the  case  then, 
strange  as  it  sounds  now ;  for  in  every  assembly  which  is 
truly  deliberative,  —  in  every  assembly  whose  business  is 
not  to  decide  whether  this  or  that  shall  be  done,  but  to 
consider  what  shall  be  done,  —  this  liberty  of  counsel 
must  always  be  expected  and  allowed ;  and  such  was  still 
the  character  of  the  Lower  House,  though  symptoms  of  a 
great  change  were  already  showing  themselves.  The  let- 
ter is  without  date,  but  was  probably  written  in  March, 
1592-93 ;  the  speech  in  question  having  been  made  on 
the  7th  of  that  month.  It  is  the  first  of  Bacon's  letters 
which  has  been  preserved  by  his  own  care. 


98  BACON'S  LETTER  TO  BURGIILEY.  [Book  I. 

A  LETTER  TO  THE  LORD  TREASURER  BURGHLEY,  IN  EX- 
CUSE OF  HIS  SPEECH  IN  PARLIAIVLENT  AGAINST  THE 
TRIPLE   SUBSIDY. 

It  may  pleaf<e  your  Lordship^  —  I  was  sorry  to  find  by 
your  Lordship's  speech  yesterday  that  my  last  speech  in 
Parliament,  delivered  in  discharge  of  my  conscience  and 
duty  to  God,  her  Majest}^  and  my  country,  was  offensive. 
If  it  were  misreported,  I  would  be  glad  to  attend  your 
Lordship  to  disavow  anything  I  said  not.  If  it  were 
misconstrued,  I  would  be  glad  to  expound  my  words,  to 
exclude  any  sense  I  meant  not.  If  my  heart  be  mis- 
judged by  imputation  of  popularity  or  opposition  by  any 
envious  or  officious  informer,  I  have  great  wrong  ;  and 
the  greater,  because  the  manner  of  my  speech  did  most 
evidently  show  that  I  spake  simply  and  only  to  sutisfy 
my  conscience,  and  not  with  any  advantage  or  policy  to 
sway  the  cause  ;  and  my  terms  carried  all  signification  of 
duty  and  zeal  towards  her  Majesty  and  her  service.  It 
is  true  that  from  the  beginning,  whatsoever  was  above  a 
double  subsidy,  I  did  wish  might  (for  precedent's  sake) 
appear  to  be  extraordinary,  and  (for  discontent's  sake) 
moiight  not  have  been  levied  upon  the  poorer  sort ;  though 
otherwise  I  wished  it  as  rising  as  I  think  this  will  prove, 
and  more.  This  was  my  mind,  I  confess  it.  And  tln'vc- 
fore  I  most  humbly  pray  your  Lordship,  first  to  continue 
me  in  your  own  good  opinion  ;  and  then  to  perform 
the  part  of  an  honest  friend  towards  your  poor  servant 
and  ally,  in  drawing  her  Majesty  to  accept  of  the  sin- 
cerity and  simplicity  of  my  lieart,  and  to  bear  with  the 
rest,  and  restore  me  to  her  Majesty's  favor. 

'J'his  letter,  being  ;i  justilieatiou  and  no  apology,  was 
far  from  satisfying  the  QuecMi.  It  was  not  so  that  she 
clios(.' to  be  served.  l>a(;on,  whom  she  had  hil  Iieitn  dis- 
tinguished by  unusual  freedom  of  access,  was  now  I'orltnl- 


1593.]  BACON'S  EMBARRASSMENT.  99 

den  to  come  into  her  presence  ;  and  as  he  had  nothing 
more  to  offer  in  the  way  of  submission  or  defense,  at 
least  nothing  that  was  likely  to  be  more  satisfactory,  — 
for  a  repetition  of  his  arguments  would  have  made  mat- 
ters worse,  —  the  road  in  which  he  had  been  hitherto 
encourasfed  to  look  for  fortune  seemed  to  be  closed  for- 
ever.  At  the  same  time  his  means  were  running  very 
low.  He  had  some  heavy  debts,  and  his  brother  who 
was  always  ready  to  lend,  even  at  the  cost  of  becoming 
himself  a  borrower,  was  now  obliged  by  importunate 
creditors  to  think  of  selling  a  part  of  his  patrimony. 
Some  course  must  be  thought  of  at  once  either  for  in- 
creasing income  or  reducing  expenditure.  He  explained 
the  case  to  Essex,  and  told  him  what  he  thought  of 
doing.  Essex  disapproved  his  project  and  endeavored  to 
dissuade  him.  But  the  fragment  of  letter  from  which  I 
learn  this  circumstance  unluckily  breaks  off  without  ex- 
plaining more,  and  leaves  us  equally  in  the  dark  as  to 
Bacon's  design  and  Essex's  objection.  I  print  it  from  a 
copy  at  Lambeth,  written  in  the  hand  of  one  of  his 
brother's  men,  and  docketed  "  Une  lettre  au  Mons.  le 
Compte  d'Essex  de  Mons.  Frangois  Bacon,  1593,  an  mois 
d'Avrill."     The  rest  it  must  tell  for  itself. 

TO   THE   EARL   OF   ESSEX. 

My  Lord  :  I  did  almost  conjecture  by  your  silence 
and  countenance  a  distaste  in  the  course  I  imparted  to 
your  Lordship  touching  mine  own  fortune ;  the  care 
whereof  in  your  Lordship  as  it  is  no  news  to  me,  so 
nevertheless  the  main  effects  and  demonstrations  thereof 
past  are  so  far  from  dulling  in  me  the  sense  of  any  new, 
as  contrariwise  every  new  refresheth  the  memory  of  many 
past.  And  for  the  free  and  loving  advice  your  Lord- 
ship hath  given  me,  I  cannot  correspond  to  the  same 
with  greater  duty,  than  by  assuring  your  Lordship  that  I 
will  not  dispose  of  myself  without  your  allowance  ;  not 


100  CHANGE  OF  PROSPECTS  AND  PLANS.  [Book  T. 

only  because  it  is  the  best  wisdom  in  any  man  in  his  own 
matters  to  rest  in  the  wisdom  of  a  friend  (for  who  can 
by  often  looking  in  the  glass  discern  and  judge  so  well  of 
his  own  favor,  as  another  with  whom  he  converseth  ?), 
but  also  because  my  affection  to  your  Lordship  hath 
made  mine  own  contentment  inseparable  from  your  sat- 
isfaction. But  notwithstanding,  I  know  it  will  be  pleas- 
ing to  your  good  Lordship  that  I  use  my  liberty  of  re- 
plying ;  and  I  do  almost  assure  myself  that  your  Lordship 
will  rest  persuaded  by  the  answer  of  those  reasons  which 
your  Lordship  vouchsafed  to  open.  They  were  two  ;  the 
one  that  I  should  include  .... 

Here  our  light  goes  suddenly  out,  just  as  Ave  were  go- 
ing to  see  how  Bacon  had  resolved  to  dispose  of  him- 
self at  this  juncture.  Knowing  however  wliich  way  iiis 
thoughts  had  turned  the  year  before,^  when  the  same 
question  pi'essed  for  decision,  and  were  again  to  turn  two 
years  after,^  we  may  venture  to  guess  that  his  plan  was 
to  abandon  the  Court,  from  which  he  could  no  longer 
hope  for  preferment,  to  give  up  the  practice  of  a  profession 
by  wliich  he  could  not  earn  a  livelihood  without  the  ex- 
pense of  more  time  than  he  was  willing  to  spare,  to  turn 
his  fortune  into  an  annuity,  and  himself  into  a  poor 
student.  From  such  a  course,  Essex  both  from  public 
and  private  reasons  would  naturally  wish  to  dissuade 
liim  ;  nor  is  anytliing  more  likely  than  that  (the  Master- 
ship of  the  Rolls  having  just  fallen  vacant)  the  eager- 
ness of  liis  friendship,  joined  with  a  somewhat  presump- 
tuous confidence  in  his  innuence  with  the  Queen,  should 
tempt  him  to  enforct^  his  arguments  by  promising  to  get 
Wacou  made  Atloin<-y  fieneral  upon  the  lirst  change  of 
ottices.  Upon  whirh  liac<)ii  eoidd  hardly  do  otiuirwiso 
tlian  suspend  his  (h-termi nation  till  lui  saw  liow  the  un- 
dertaking was   likely  to  SUeccrd. 

1  Sr;c  LetiiT  U,  lUiraUU-y,  \>.  50. 

2  Sec  LcUer  to  Anthony  Bacon,  Jan.  25,  1594. 


)D93.]  INTERPOSITION  OF  HIS   FRIENDS.  101 

This  being  agreed  on,  tlie  first  thing  to  be  done  was 
to  engage  Burghley's  interest  in  the  cause,  and,  if  possi- 
ble, as  a  first  mover.  Bacon  did  not  however  venture 
(remembering  perhaps  the  admonition  he  had  received 
from  him  on  a  former  occasion)  to  propose  it  to  him  di- 
rectly ;  but,  breaking  the  matter  to  Sir  Thomas  Cecil, 
requested  him  to  ascertain  first  how  his  father  was  likely 
to  receive  such  a  proposal.  This  I  learn  from  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  unluckily  without  date,  but  written  evi- 
dently about  this  time.  Sir  Thomas  Cecil  was  Burgh- 
ley's eldest  son  by  his  first  wife. 

It  may  please  your  Lordship:  The  title  of  being  your  son, 
as  it  is  the  cause  that  many  do  use  me  as  theii-  mediator  unto 
your  Lordship  in  their  private  suits,  an  office  which  often  through 
importunity  I  am  thrust  unto  against  my  will,  yet  at  this  time  I, 
must  confess  I  am  importuned  with  my  will  to  be  a  motioner 
unto  your  Lordship  for  one  nearly  allied  to  your  house,  and 
whose  gifts  and  qualities  of  mind  I  know  your  Lordship  will 
not  think  unfit  [for]  the  place  he  seeketh.  It  is  Mr.  Francis 
Bacon,  who  hearing  of  late  that  the  Attorney  is  likened  for  the 
Master  of  the  Rolls,  his  desire  is  to  be  remembered  by  me  unto 
your  Lordship's  good  acceptance  and  conceit  of  him  for  that 
place  which  Mr.  Attorney  shall  leave,  and  thereby  to  be  recom- 
mended by  your  Lordship  to  her  Majesty.  My  Lord,  I  cannot 
better  recommend  the  good  parts  that  are  in  the  gentleman  than 
I  know  your  Lordship's  own  opinion  is  of  him.  But  I  know 
none  that  is  likely  to  be  called  to  the  place  that  is  and  ought  to 
be  more  assured  to  your  Lordship  than  he  ;  and  an  lienor  to 
your  Lordship  to  prefer  them  that  are  assuredly  tied  to  your 
Lordship  in  blood  as  well  as  in  benefit,  if  their  worth  be  fit  for 
the  place. 

Thus  my  Lord  I  have  discharged  both  my  promise  and  desire 
to  do  tiie  gentleman  good,  and  he  doth  rest  to  know  by  me  how 
your  Lordsliip  dotli  accept  of  this  motion  ;  which  I  humbly  be- 
seech your  Lordship  to  signify  nnto  me  by  your  letter,  or  to 
himself  in  my  absence ;  who  according  as  he  shall  hear  from 
your  Lordship,  meaneth  himself  to  wait  upon  your  Lordship  ;  in 
the  meantime  forbeareth  for  modesty's  sake  to  speak  for  himself. 


102      KECOMMKNDATION   FOR  ATTORNFA'  GEXERAL.        [Book  I. 

And  so  craving  pardon  of  your  Lordship  for  tliis  my  boldness, 
I  humbly  take  my  leave.     From 

Your  Lordship's  most  loving  and  obedient  Son. 

I  had  myself  moved  your  Lordship  herein,  but  that  at  my 
passing  by  I  had  neither  fit  time  nor  place. 

This  letter  is  a  copy,  in  the  hand  I  believe  of  Michael 
Hicks,  Burghley's  secretary;  docketed:  "  Coppy.  S'' 
Tho.  Cecill  to  my  L.  touching  Mr.  Fra.  Bacon."  It  has 
no  date,  except  a  large  IGOG  in  pencil  ;  put  in,  I  suppose, 
by  the  arranger  of  the  volume,  and  certainly  vrrong,  for 
Burghley  died  in  1598,  and  Bacon  was  knighted  in  1603. 

In    the  mean  time    Bacon,  having  communicated    his 

wishes  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  and  received  an  assurance  of 

goodwill,  requested  him  also  to  use  his  influence  with  his 

, father  for  the  same  purpose,  as  appears  by  the  following 

letter : — 

To    THK    KlGUT    IIOXORABI.E    SiR    RonKKT    CkCIL,    IvNIGHT,    ONK 

OF  HEii  Ma.jksty's  Most  IIoxokablk  Piuvy  Councxi.. 
Sir,—  I  thank  your  Honor  very  much  for  the  signifi- 
cation which  I  received  by  Mr.  Hickes  of  your  good 
opinion,  good  affection,  and  readiness.  And  as  to  the 
impediment  which  you  mention  and  I  did  forecast,  I 
know  you  bear  that  honorable  disposition  as  it  will 
rather  give  you  apprehension  to  deal  more  effectually  for 
me  than  otherwise ;  not  only  because  the  trial  of  friends 
is  in  case  of  dilHculty,  but  again  lor  that  with-.ut  that 
circumstance  your  Honor  should  be  only  esteeuied  a  true 
friend  andjdnsman,  whereas  now  you  shall  be  further 
judged  a  most  honorable  counsellor.  For  pardons  an; 
ever  honorable,  because  they  come  from  mercy,  but  most 
honorable  towards  sucli  offenders.  My  desire  is  your 
Honor  should  incak  with  my  Lord  your  father  as  soon  as 
may  stand  with  your  convenience',  which  was  the  cause 
why  now  I  did  write.  And  so  I  wish  y<.ur  Honor  all 
happiiu^ss.  Fn.m  dray's  Inn,  ibis  Kith  of  April,  1">IK5. 
v., in-  Honor's  in  laillilnl  affection  (o  l)e  c<»mnianded, 

Fii.  Bacon. 


1593.]  CECIL'S  LETTER  OF  ADVICE.  103 

How  Burghley  received  the  motion  we  are  not  in- 
formed. Probably  in  silence,  as  not  wishing  to  cross  it, 
and  yet  thinking  it  injudicious,  and  feeling  that  it  would 
be  idle  to  apply  for  so  high  a  preferment  on  behalf  of 
a  man  whom  the  Queen  was  at  the  very  time,  whether 
justly  or  not,  taking  pains  to  distinguish  by  her  dis- 
pleasure. Such  at  least  was  the  opinion  of  Sir  Robert 
Cecil ;  as  appears  by  the  following  letter,  written  about 
three  weeks  after  the  last,  in  answer  to  some  application 
from  Bacon  for  advice ;  the  question  being  (it  seems) 
whether  he  had  better  keep  near  the  Court,  so  as  to  be 
at  hand  to  take  advantage  of  any  favorable  accident,  or 
stay  away  until  the  Queen's  displeasure  abated.  Cecil's 
advice,  though  worded  (whether  from  caution  or  careless- 
ness) rather  obscurely,  amounts  to  this  :  "  Make  it  your 
first  object  to  obtain  leave  of  access  again,  of  which  your 
best  chance  is  through  the  Earl  of  Essex.  Till  this  is 
obtained,  it  will  be  premature  to  apply  for  preferment ;" 
advice  which  seems  to  me  very  judicious,  and  in  the 
spirit  of  which  Bacon,  so  far  as  he  interfered  in  the  mat- 
ter himself,  appears  to  have  acted.  Cecil's  letter  runs 
thus :  — 

"  Cousin,  I  have  received  yo">'  letter  wherein  you  request  my 
help  [and]  advice.  For  the  first,  I  do  and  will  assure  you  of 
it  as  firmly  and  honestly  as  any  man  that  can  do  it  powerfully. 
But  for  the  second,  I  must  be  tender  with  you,  because  the 
effect  may  be  doubtful  in  things  which  are  here  so  variable. 

"Of  the  matter  wliicli  you  speak  of  I  do  assure  you  there 
passeth  not  so  much  as  any  bruit  bv  mine  ears ;  and  therefore 
in  mine  opinion  the  vacation  may  happily  pass  over  before  the 
places  be  altered  ;  but  thereof  I  can  only  speak  conjectural !y  ; 
and  tlicrefore  do  I  think  that  as  time  may  do  you  good,  so  loss 
of  occasion  may  do  you  much  harm.  And  therefore  for  your 
coming  or  not  coming,  this  is  my  coneeit,  —  th;it  if  eitlier  by 
your  own  presence  or  by  other  mediation  your  way  be  not  made 
so  as  that  the  veil  now  covering  you  may  be  uncovered,  though 
\t  do  but  .  .  .  .  ^  you,  according  to  the  slender  proportion  of 
1  I  cannot  make  out  tlicsc  words. 


104  STATES  HIS   CASE  FOR  inMSELF.  [Book  T. 

her  Majesty's  mislike,  whereof  you  have  given  so  small  cause, 
that  surely  it  will  be  still  a  stumble  for  any  man  that  shall  thrust 
resolutely  to  deal  for  that  preferment,  which  being  a  thing 
second  in  honor  will  be  second  ordine,  and  therefore  the  first 
must  be  gained  to  open  the  way  for  the  second.  In  conclusion,  I 
thus  write  because  you  seem  to  care  for  my  advice,  which  with 
my  best  means  and  poorest  wit  likewise  shall  be  at  your  com- 
mandment to  do  you  any  pleasure  ;  assuring  [you]  that  you 
must  press  the  Earl  for  it,  who  hatli  both  true  love  towards  you. 
and  the  truest  and  greatest  means  to  win  it  of  her  Majesty. 
From  the  Court,  this  7th  of  May,  1593. 

"  Your  loving  cousin  and  friend, 

Rob  :  Cycell." 

That  zealous  friend  needed  no  pressing,  but  ratlier 
the  contrary.  As  early  as  the  16th  of  April,  Anthony 
Bacon  writes  to  his  mother,  "  The  Earl  of  Essex  hath 
been  twice  very  earnest  with  her  Majesty  toueliing  my 
brother;  whose  speech  being  well  grounded  and  directed 
to  good  ends,  as  it  cannot  be  denied  but  it  was,  I  doubt 
not  that  God  in  his  mercy  will  in  time  make  it  an  occa- 
sion of  her  Majesty's  better  opinion  and  liking."  And 
BO  earnestly  did  tlie  Earl  continue  his  mediation,  that  by 
the  beginning  of  June  the  stuiubling-block  seemed  to  be 
removed.  Of  the  particulars  and  progress  of  the  negotia- 
tion no  account  has  been  preserved  ;  but  there  are  two 
letters  of  Bac(jn's,  both  uiduekily  witliout  date,  ami  one 
without  the  name  of  tlu;  person  to  Avhom  it  was  ad- 
dressed, which  may  be  referred  to  this  period  more  prob- 
ably I  tliiidc  tliaii  to  any  otlio-.  Essex  wnnld  n;itiii-ally 
inforiu  Bacon  of  th(!  [)rogress  of  his  suit  ami  tlic  state  o| 
tli(!  (Queen's  feelings;  and  this  would  uat  urally  supply  Ba- 
con wltli  au  occasion  to  write,  sinrc  lie  could  not  speak,  for 
liimself ;  an  occasiou  which  he  would  l)e  the  morr;  apt  to 
take,  if  he  fell,  as  he  eouhl  liai-dly  liel|)  doing,  that  Essex 
was  likely  to  ui'ge  llie  inaltcroii  lioth  too  fast  and  too  far. 
He  woidd    naturally  wish    to   state    for  himself,  first,  tli.- 


1593.]  THE  QUALITY  OF  HIS  DEFENSE.  105 

true  ground  on  which  he  claimed  pardon  for  his  speecli ; 
and  secondly,  the  true  nature  and  extent  of  the  favor  for 
which  he  presumed  to  ask.  The  one  he  did  in  a  letter 
which,  though  it  has  always  been  printed  as  a  letter  to 
the  Lord  Keeper  Puckering,  I  rather  believe  to  have 
been  addressed  to  Essex ;  the  other  in  a  letter  to  the 
Queen  herself. 

A  copy  of  the  first  lies  by  itself  in  tbe  middle  of  a 
volume  of  the  Harleian  MSS. ;  without  address,  head- 
ing, date,  signature,  or  indorsement ;  but  it  explains  and 
fathers  itself.^  And  it  will  be  seen  that  the  remarks 
which  I  just  now  made  upon  the  letter  to  Burghley,  writ- 
ten upon  the  first  intimation  of  the  Queen's  displeasure, 
are  equally  applicable  to  this ;  in  which  though  the  ex- 
pression of  regret  is  stronger  (time  having  shown  how 
deep  the  displeasure  had  sunk  in  Her  mind,  and  how  little 
satisfactory  his  excuse  had  been),  yet  the  substance  of 
his  plea  is  precisely  the  same ;  nor  is  there  any  approach 
to  an  acknowledgment  that  he  is  sorry  for  having  made 
the  speech ;  he  is  still  only  sorry  that  she  should  take  it 
in  bad  part. 

My  Loed,  —  It  is  a  great  grief  unto  me,  joined  with 
marvel,  that  her  Majesty  should  retain  an  hard  conceit 
of  my  speeches  in  Parliament.  It  mought  please  her 
sacred  Majesty  to  think  what  my  end  should  be  in  those 
speeches,  if  it  were  not  duty,  and  duty  alone.  I  am  not 
so  simple  but  I  know  the  common  beaten  way  to  please. 
And  whereas  popularity  hath  been  objected,  I  muse 
what  care  I  should  take  to  please  many,  that  taketh  a 
course  of  life  to  deal  with  few.  On  the  other  side,  her 
Majesty's  grace  and   particular  favor  towards    me  hath 

1  It  is  entered  in  the  catalogue  as,  "  Copie  of  a  letter  to  the  Lord  Keeper 
Puckering?  concerning  the  writer's  speech  in  Parliament,  which  had  disgusted 
the  Queen."  Birch  saw  that  the  writer  was  Bacon,  and  adopted  the  guess  of 
the  catalogue-maker  as  to  the  person  addressed,  but  omitted  the  note  of  inten 
rogation. 


106  LETTER  TO  THE  QTJEEX.  [Book  I. 

been  such,  as  I  esteem  no  worldly  thing  above  the  com- 
fort to  enjoy  it,  except  it  be  the  conscience  to  deserve  it. 
But  if  the  not  seconding  of  some  particular  person's  opin- 
ion shall  be  presumption,  and  to  differ  upon  the  manner 
shall  be  to  impeach  the  end,  it  shall  teach  my  devction 
not  to  exceed  wishes,  and  those  in  silence.  Yet  notwith- 
standing (to  speak  vainly  as  in  grief)  it  may  be  her 
MajVsty  hath  discouraged  as  good  a  heart  as  ever  looked 
towards  her  service,  and  as  void  of  self-love.  And  so  in 
more  grief  than  I  can  well  express,  and  much  more  than 
I  can  well  dissemble,  I  leave  your  Lordship,  being  as 
ever.  Your  Lordship's  entirely  devoted. 

A  copy  of  the  letter  to  the  Queen  is  preserved  among 
Anthony  Bacon's  papers,  and  needs  no  comment.  It  is 
docketed  "  Copie  que  Mens''  Franc^ois  Bacon  a  escrivit  a 
sa  Ma'%  1593."  But  the  date  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  written  at  the  same  time  as  the  rest. 

TO    THE    QUEEN. 

]\L\.DAM,  —  Remembering  that  your  Majesty  had  been 
gracious  to  me  both  in  countenancing  me  and  conferring 
upon  me  the  reversion  of  a  good  phice,  and  perceiving 
your  J\Jajesty  had  taken  some  displeasure  towards  nie, 
both  these  were  arguments  to  move  nie  to  offer  unto 
your  Majesty  my  service,  to  the  end  to  have  means  to 
deserve  your  benefit  and  to  repair  my  error.  Upon  this 
ground  I  atVected  myself  to  no  great  matter,  but  only  a 
j)hice  of  my  pnjfession,  suclias  I  do  si.'e  divers  young(M'  in 
proccM'ding  to  myself,  and  men  of  no  great  note,  do  with- 
out blanu!  aspire  unto.  But  if  any  of  my  Friends  do 
press  this  mattei',^  I  do  assure  your  Majesty  my  spirit  is 
not  with  them.  It  sutlieeth  me  that  I  have  h't  your 
Majesty  know  that  I  am  ready  to  do  that  for  your  s(?r- 
vice  which  I  never  would  do  for  mine  own  gain.      And  if 

•  The  words  "more  than  as  a  simple  iiomiiiuticm  "  follow  in  tiiu  MS.,  with  a 
'ine  drawa  through  them. 


1593.] 


ITS  FAVORABLE   RECEPTION.  107 


your  Miijesty  like  others  better,  I  shall  with  the  Lace- 
demonian be  glad  that  there  is  sucli  choice  of  abler  men 
than  myself.  Your  ^Majesty's  favor  indeed,  and  access 
to  your  royal  person,  I  did  ever,  encouraged  by  your  own 
speeches,  seek  and  desire  ;  and  I  would  be  very  glad  to 
be  reintegrate  in  that.  But  I  will  not  wrong  mine  own 
good  mind  so  much  as  to  stand  upon  it  now,  when  your 
Majesty  may  conceive  I  do  it  but  to  make  my  profit  of 
it.  But  my  mind  turneth  upon  other  wheels  that  those 
of  profit.  The  conclusion  shall  be  that  I  wish  your  Maj- 
esty served  answerable  to  yourself.  Principis  est  virtus 
maxima  nosse  suos.  Thus  I  most  humbly  crave  pardon 
of  my  boldness  and  plainness.  God  preserve  your  Maj- 
esty. 

The  appeal  seems  not  to  have  been  without  effect. 
On  the  2d  of  June,  Bacon  went  to  Twickenham  for  the 
vacation,  having  just  received  intelligence  from  Essex 
that  the  Queen  was  at  length  "  thoroughly  appeased, 
and  that  she  stood  only  upon  the  exception  of  liis  years 
for  his  present  preferment.  But  I  doubt  not,  saith  my 
Lord,  that  I  shall  overcome  that  difficulty  very  soon,  and 
that  her  Majesty  will  show  it  by  good  effects."  News 
which,  if  true,  was  as  favorable  as  he  could  have  ex- 
pected, and  might  fairly  serve  him  for  encouragement 
during  the  rest  of  the  summer.  For  the  long  vacation, 
—  the  season  of  progresses  and  general  dispersion,  —  was 
now  near  ;  and  if  the  question  were  not  decided  during 
the  next  fortnight,  it  ^yas  likelj^  to  stand  over  till  Sep- 
tember. Sucli  delay  was  a  ground  for  anxiety  but  not 
for  discouragement  ;  for  the  Queen  did  not  know,  proba- 
bly, how  ill  Bacon's  case  could  bear  the  uncertainty,  and 
how  ni'arl}^  it  concerned  him  to  have  the  question  one 
way  or  another  settled. 


CHAPTER  VL 

A.  D.  1593-94.    ^TAT.  33-34. 

Had  the  question  been  settled  once  for  all,  it  would 
have  mattered  little,  perhaps,  which  way.  With  a  view 
to  tlie  great  purposes  of  Bacon's  life  either  fortune  would 
have  had  its  special  advantages  and  its  special  disadvan- 
tages. Much  worse  than  either  was  the  suspense  which, 
making  it  doubtful  which  road  he  ought  to  take, 
postponed  all  decided  action  at  a  time  when  sudden  reso- 
hition  was  especially  necessary.  To  have  given  up  politics 
and  business  at  once  and  sequestered  himself  to  phihoso- 
phy,  would  have  answered  very  well  ;  though,  consider- 
ing the  growing  importance  of  civil  questions  and  the 
advantageous  position  in  which  he  stood  by  reason  of 
his  reputation  and  influence  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
the  sacrifice  would  liave  been  considerable.  But  he 
would  liave  had  a  Avoithy  vocation,  ami  means  sufficient 
(after  paying  his  d(;bts)  for  the  eoiii])aiatively  inexpen- 
sive life  of  a  private  student.  Tu  hav(i  been  advanced  at 
once  to  oflice  with  its  ordinary  emoluments  would  have 
answered,  all  things  considered,  still  better.  The  in- 
come would  liave  enabled  him  to  bear  the  exjienses  of 
public  life.  The  dutit^s  of  his  place  would  have  given 
liim  work  worthy  of  liis  powers  and  for  wliieli  tliey  weic; 
eminently  suited,  and  yet  left  him  leisure  for  other 
Btu(li(.'S.  And  the.  loss  of  time  would  have  been  in  great 
part  made  up  by  the  influence  and  authority  incidtMit  to 
an  eminent  position,  —  the  commandment  (to  use  his 
own  words)  of  more  wits  than  his  own.      I)ut  to  be  kept 


159.3-9-1.]  PECUNIARY   DIFFICULTIES.  109 

speiul'mg  inucli  and  eaniing  nothing,  templed  on  by- 
hopes  continually  renewed  and  never  realized,  while  cred- 
itors were  growing  impatient,  and  debts  increasing,  for 
the  satisfaction  of  which  it  seemed  only  necessary  to 
have  patience  till  the  next  term,  —  what  was  this  but 
practice  in  the  fatal  art  of  sleeping  on  a  debtor's  pillow  ? 
Let  Bacon  be  blamed,  not  for  his  anxiety  to  be  relieved 
from  this  condition  of  dangerous  uncertainty,  but  for  not 
putting  an  end  to  it  at  once,  at  whatever  sacrifice.  And 
yet  in  what  particular  week  or  month  or  quarter  he  could 
have  taken  such  a  step  without  appearing  to  be  deliber- 
ately throwing  away  his  fairest  chance  of  obtaining  that 
which,  on  his  country's  account  scarcely  less  than  his 
(jwn,  he  had  most  reason  to  desire,  it  is  not  by  any  means 
easy  to  say.  For  it  would  almost  seem  that  this  was  the 
condition  in  which  the  Qncen  wiahed  to  keep  him  ;  not 
knowing  probably  how  dangerous  such  a  condition  was 
for  him,  as  his  aftViirs  then  stood.  If  she  could  have  seen 
the  letter?  which  were  passing  dui'ing  all  these  months 
between  his  mother  and  his  brothei",  about  the  means  of 
helping  him  to  pay  his  debts  without  sacrificing  his  re- 
version, and  which  may  now  be  seen  in  the  Lambeth 
librar}^  she  would  have  better  understood  the  risk  she 
ran  of  letting  her  watch-candle,  as  she  used  to  call  him, 
go  (juite  out.  The  resource  proposed  in  his  present  difii- 
cultv  was  the  sale  of  an  estate  in  which  his  motlier  had 
an  interest,  and  which  could  not  be  sold  without  her 
concurrence.  Anthony  urged  her  to  surrender  her  in- 
terest in  it,  that  the  sale  might  proceed  without  delay  : 
lidding  that  the  ground  of  his  motion  (made  without  his 
bi-other's  knowledge)  being  only  a  brotherly  care  :nid 
atTertion.  he  hoped  her  Ladyship  would  think  and  accept 
of  it  accordinglv, —  believing  that  "being  so  near  and 
dear  unto  me  as  he  is,  it  cannot  but  be  a  grief  unto  mt^  to 
Bi-e  a  mind  that  hath  given  so  sufficient  proof  of  ilscll'  in 
having'  brouLrht  forth    manv  ir"<>d   thouffhts  for  the  m  n- 


110  LADY  BACON'S  CONDITIONS.  [Book  I. 

eral,  to  be  overburdened  and  cumbered  with  a  care  of 
clearing  his  particular  estate."  Lady  Bacon  was  ready 
to  do  anything  for  either  of  her  sons  which  she  could  be 
sure  was  for  their  good  ;  but  being  strongly  possessed 
with  a  notion  that  they  were  preyed  upon  by  unfaithful 
servants,  she  would  not  consent  to  this  except  upon  condi- 
tions :  and  her  answer  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  domestic 
troubles  of  a  very  affectionate  family. 

"  If  your  brother  desire  a  release  to  ]Mr.  Harvey,  let  him  so 
require  it  himself,  and  but  upon  this  condition  by  his  own  hand 
and  bond  I  will  not ;  that  is,  that  he  make  and  give  me  a  true 
note  of  all  his  debts,  and  leave  to  me  the  whole  order  and  re- 
ceipt of  all  his  money  for  his  land,  to  Harvey,  and  the  just  pay- 
ment of  all  his  debts  thereby.  And  by  the  mercy  and  grace  of 
God  it  shall  be  performed  by  me  to  his  quiet  discharge  without 
cumbering  him  and  to  his  cre<lit.  For  I  will  not  have  his  cor- 
morant seducers  and  instruments  of  Satan  to  him  committing 
foul  sin  by  his  countenance,  to  the  displeasing  of  God  and  his 
godly  true  fear.     Otherwise  I  will  not  pro  certo. 

"  A.  B." 

Now  though  T.ady  Bacon  may  have  had  some  reason 
for  thinking'  that  Francis  was  an  over-trustful  and  over- 
indulgent  master,  —  and  later  experience  showed  that 
this  was  really  one  of  his  principal  weaknesses,  — it  does 
not  follow  that  she  was  lierself  very  fit  to  be  his  stew- 
ardess ;  for  if  he  had  too  little  suspicion  of  those  about 
him,  she  most  certaiidy  had  too  much  ;  which  in  most 
Imman  dealings  is  as  bad  a  fault.  And  at  any  rate,  even 
if  she  bad  been  the  best  woman  of  business  in  the  world, 
an  arrangement  which  implied  that  he  was  not  fit  to 
manage  his  own  affairs  would  at  that  time,  when  he  was 
aspiring  US  be  the  Qu(!en's  Attorney,  have  liad  an  awk- 
ward appearance.  His  rejdy  is  lost;  but  the  general  ef- 
fect of  it  may  be  gathered  from  his  mother's  remarks  in 
.1  letter  sent  to  Anthony  the  next  morning  (A[)ril  l.Stb) 
vvliicli,  being  v<-ry  cliarartcristic  and   interesting  fr<jm  the 


J5'j:J-94.]  A   LETTER   OF   LADY   BACON'S.  Ill 

sudden  relapso  into  tenderness  which  follows  the  first  dis- 
charge of  passion,  I  shall  give  at  length. 

"  I  received  somewhat  late  yesterday  all  sent  by  the  Glover. 
All  the  notes  savor  of  discontents  mixed.  God  tm-n  all  to  the 
best.  Your  continuance  in  debt  still  I  fear  still.  Often  and 
divers  surveys,  and  no  good  effect  procured.  1  doubt  the  bar- 
gain ;  but  look  you  if  troubles  threaten,  purchasers  will  be  low, 
more ^ 

"  I  send  herein  your  brother's  letter.  Construe  the  inter- 
pretation. I  do  not  understand  his  enigmatical  folded  writing. 
Oh  tliat  by  not  hrarkening  to  wholesome  and  careful  good 
counsel,  and  by  continuing  still  the  means  of  his  own  great  hin- 
drance, he  had  not  procured  his  own  early  discredit ;  but  had 
joined  witii  God  that  hath  bestowed  on  him  good  gifts  of  natural 
wit  and  understanding.  But  the  same  good  God  that  hath  given 
them  to  him  will  I  trust  and  heartily  pray  to  sanctify  his  heart 
by  the  right  use  of  them  to  glorify  the  Giver  of  them  to  his  own 
inward  comfort.  The  scope  of  my  so  called  by  him  circum- 
stance, which  I  am  sure  he  must  understand,  was  not  to  use  him 
as  a  ward,  —  a  remote  phrase  to  my  plain  motherly  meaning,  — 
and  yet,  1  thank  the  Lord  and  the  hearing  of  his  word  preached, 
not  void  of  judgment  and  conceiving.  My  plain  proposition 
was  and  is  to  do  him  good.  But  seeing  so  manifestly  that  he  is 
robbed  and  spoiled  wittingly  by  his  base  exalted  (?)  men,  which 
with  Welsh  wiles  prey  upon  him,  and  yet  bear  him  in  hand  they 
have  other  maintenance,  because  their  bold  natures  will  not  ac- 
knowledge. I  did  desire  only  to  receive  the  money  to  discharge 
his  debts  indeed ;  and  dare  not  trust  such  his  riotous  men  with 
the  dealing  withal.  I  am  sure  no  preacher,  nor  lawyer,  nor 
friend,  would  have  misliked  this  my  doing  for  his  good  and  my 
better  satisfying." 

So  far  she  is  carried  on  in  wrath  ;  then  comes  the 
relenting :  — 

"  He  perceives  my  good  meaning  by  this,  and  before  too. 
But  Percie  had  winded  him.  God  ble>s  my  son.  "What  lie 
would  have  nie  do  and  when  for  his  own  good  as  I  now  write 
1  I  cannot  make  out  these  words. 


112  THE  BACONS  AND   ESSEX.  [Book  I. 

let  him  return  plain  answer  by  Fynch.  He  was  his  fatliei-'s 
first  choice  1  (?),  and  God  will  supply  if  he  will  trust  in  him  and 
call  upon  [him]  in  truth  of  heart ;  wliich  God  grant  to  mother 
and  sons. 

"  I  send  the  first  flight  of  my  doves  to  you  both,  and   God 
bless  you  in  Christ.  "  A.  B. 

But  these  private  cares,  however  importunate,  formed 
a  small  part  of  the  occupations  which  made  this  vacation 
a  busy  one  for  both  the  Bacons.     The  Earl  of  Essex  had 
just  been  made  a   Privy  Councillor,   and   plunged  with 
characteristic  ardor    into  the  business    belonging    to  his 
new    dignity.     The   times,  by  the  alarms  and  anxieties 
which  they  bred,  gave  an  impulse  and  a  vaUie  to  his  ac- 
tivity.    Both  in  France  and  Scotland,  Spanish  intrigue 
joined   witli  internal  faction   was  so   powerful,  that  tiie 
cause    of   Protestantism    had    rarely    seemed    in    greater 
jeopardy  than  in  this  summer  of  1503  ;  while  the  King  of 
Scots  on  the  one  side  was  tossed  lielplessly  this  way  and 
that  between   the  contending   parties,  :ind   the   King  of 
France  on    the   other   was   driven,  as   the   only  apparent 
means  of  securing  his  crown,  settling  his  kingdom,  and 
saving  the  Protestant  cause  from  utter  overthrow,  to  the 
deplorable  alternative  of  publicly  renouncing  the    faith 
for  which  he  had  so   long   fought,  and   conforming  out- 
wardly to  a  church  to  which  he  scarcely  ^n-etended  to  be 
a  real  convert.     In  both  these  countries  Essex  had  conv- 
spondents,  in  his  intercourse  with  whom  Anthony  Bacon 
appears  to  have  served  him  in    a  capacity  very  lik(>  that 
of  a  modern  under-secretary  of  state  ;  receiving  all  let- 
ters, whit;h   wen;  mostly  in  cipher,  in  the  first  inst-.inee  ; 
forwarding  them  (generally  through  his  brother  Francis's 
liands)   to  tin;    Earl,   deciphere<l    and   aceomi)anicd    with 
their  joint  suggestions  ;  and  rnnilly,  according  to  the  in- 
structions thereupon   returned    framing  and    dispatching 

1  The.  w.inl  is  wrilK-n  80  close  to  the  cdtce  •>£  tliu  paper  tliut  I  taiiiiot  make  it 
>ut.     It  look^  tikf!  cliis. 


1593-94.]  LABORS  IK  THE  SERVICE  OF  ESSEX.  113 

the  answers.  The  three  thus  acting  together  formed  a 
kind  of  small  Foreign  Office,  the  business  of  which  seems 
to  have  gro^vn  so  rapidly  in  extent,  importance,  and 
credit  with  the  Queen,  that  before  the  end  of  the  year 
"  all  matters  of  intelligence  "  were  reported  to  be  "  wholly 
in  the  Earl's  hands." 

There  is  evidence  enough  to  show  that  Francis,  who 
attended  the  Court  during  the  greater  part  of  this  sum- 
mer, was  constantly  consulted  in  all  these  matters,  and 
in  frequent  communication  with  the  Earl.  But  he  had 
not  yet  begun  to  keep  his  letters,  and  none  of  them  have 
been  preserved.  Of  the  kind  of  services  however  in 
which  he  was  employed,  the  following  letter,  addressed 
to  him  by  Essex  about  this  time,  and  remaining  among 
bis  brother's  papers,  may  serve  as  an  illustration. 

Mr.  Bacon, —  The  Queen  hath  seut  for  me  in  such  kindness 
this  morning  as  I  must  not  refuse  to  go  on  to  her.  I  hear  not 
of  Mr.  Phillips.  I  will  acquaint  you  with  my  business,  that 
you  upon  conference  with  him  may  do  that  which  myself  would 
have  done.  The  Queen  did  require  of  me  a  draft  of  an  In- 
struction for  matter  of  intelligence,  seeming  willing  now  she 
hath  sworn  me  one  of  her  Council  to  use  my  service  that  way. 
I  persuade  myself  she  doth  it  rather  to  try  my  judgment  in  it 
than  for  any  present  necessity  for  direction  of  any  man  that  is 
to  go.  The  places  are  Rheims  and  Rome.  Mr.  Phillips  hath 
known  Mr.  Secretary's  courses  in  such  matters ;  so  as  I  may 
have  counsel  from  you  and  precedents  from  him.  I  pray  you, 
as  your  leisure  will  serve,  send  me  your  conceipt  as  soon  as  you 
can  ;  for  I  know  not  how  soon  I  shall  be  called  on.  I  will 
draw  some  notes  of  mine  own  which  I  will  reform  and  enlarge 
by  yours.     In  haste,  this  Friday  morning. 

Your  most  assured  friend, 

Essex. 

Meantime  the  Earl  of  Essex  was  on  his  part  doing 
everything  which  zeal  and  assiduity  could  do  to  make 
good  the  expectations  wliich  he  had  held  out  to  Bacon  ; 
and  that  with  an  appearance  of  success  -which  was  in  fact 


114  THE  QUEEN'S  COURSE  WITH  ESSEX.  [Book  I. 

unfortunate  ;  for  it  inflamed  a  self-confidence  of  which  he 
had  naturally  too  much,  kindled  in  liim  a  pride  in  the 
consciousness  and  display  of  court-influence  and  an  ambi- 
tion to  overbear  court-rivals,  and  betrayed  him  into  a 
misapprehension  of  the  real  tenure  of  his  power  over  the 
Queen.  Elizabeth  ailmired  his  enthusiasm,  liked  to  see 
and  hear  him  pleading  for  his  friend  with  an  ardor 
which  became  him  so  well,  and  her  pleasure  and  patience 
in  hearing  liim  sue  flattered  him  into  the  belief  that  he 
•was  prevailing.  He  had  yet  to  learn  that  she  could  be 
well  pleased  in  listening  to  suits  which  she  had  no  inten- 
tion of  granting.  In  the  beginning  of  the  long  vacation, 
when  the  time  of  decision  was  yet  far  off,  she  appears 
to  have  been  very  encouraging.  "  Our  most  honorable 
and  kind  friend  the  Earl  of  Essex  "  —  so  Anthony  writes 
to  liis  mother  from  Twickenham  on  the  18th  of  July  — 
"  was  here  yesterday  three  hours,  and  hath  most  friendly 
and  freely  promised  to  set  up,  as  they  say,  liis  whole  rest 
of  favor  and  credit  for  my  brother's  preferment  before 
Mr.  Cooke  whensoever  the  now  Attorney  shall  be  re- 
moved to  tile  place  of  the  Rolls.  His  Lordship  told  me 
likewise  that  lie  had  already  moved  tlie  Queen  for  my 
brother,  and  that  she  took  no  exceptions  to  him,  but  said 
that  she  must  first  dispatch  the  French  and  Scotch  Am- 
bassadors and  her  business  abroad,  before  she  think  of 
such  home  matters."  But  as  the  time  of  decision  drew 
near,  her  former  exceptions  revived,  and  her  old  offense 
at  the  speech  in  Parliament,  which  two  months  before 
Essex  had  supposed  to  be  "  thoroughly  appeased,"  was 
found  to  be  as  much  in  the  way  as  ever.  The  effect 
rannot  be  described  so  well  as  in  the  words  of  the  Earl's 
own  letter  to  Francis,  written  on  the  24th  (»f  August. 

SiK,  —  I  8j)ukc  with  the  Queen  yesterday  and  on  Wednesday 
On  Wednesday  she  cut  nie  off  short  ;  she  heinf^  come  newly 
lionie  and  niakin<r  liaste  (o  lior  suftptT.  Yesterday  I  liad  a  full 
audience,  but  with  iittli'  hctlt-r  sucecss  than  hef<)r(.'.     The  points 


1593-94.]       BURGHLET'S  PROFESSION  OF  GOOD-WILL.  115 

I  pressed  were  an  absolute  djivrnTTia,  and  au  access  as  in  former 
times.  Against  the  first  she  pleaded  that  you  were  in  more 
fault  than  any  of  the  rest  in  Parliament ;  and  when  she  did  for- 
give it  and  manifest  her  receiving  of  them  into'  favor  that  of- 
fended her  then,  she  will  do  it  to  many  that  were  less  in  fault 
as  well  as  to  yourself.  Your  access,  she  saith,  is  as  much  as 
you  can  look  for.  If  it  had  been  in  the  King  her  father's  time, 
a  less  oiFense  than  that  would  have  made  a  man  be  banished  his 
presence  for  ever.  But  you  did  come  to  the  Court  when  you 
would  yourself;  and  she  should  precipitate  too  much  from  be- 
ing highly  displeased  with  you  to  give  you  near  access,  such  as 
she  shows  only  to  those  that  she  favors  extraordinarily.  I  told 
her  that  I  sought  for  you  was  not  so  much  your  good,  though  it 
were  a  thing  I  would  seek  extremely  and  please  myself  in  ob- 
taining, as  for  her  honor,  that  those  excellent  translations  of 
hers^  might  be  known  to  them  who  could  best  judge  of  them. 
Besides,  my  desii*e  was  that  you  should  neither  be  stranger  to 
her  person  nor  to  her  service  ;  the  one  for  your  own  satisfaction, 
the  other  for  her  Majesty's  own  sake  ;  who  if  she  did  not  em- 
ploy you  should  lose  the  use  of  the  ablest  gentleman  to  do  her 
service  of  any  of  your  quality  whatsoever.  Her  humor  is  yet 
to  delay.  I  am  now  going  to  her  again  :  and  what  I  cannot 
effect  at  once  I  will  look  to  do  scepe  cadendo.  Excuse  my  ill 
writing.  I  write  in  haste  and  have  my  chamber  full  of  company 
that  break  my  head  with  talking.  I  commend  myself  to  your 
brother  and  to  yourself,  and  rest  your  assured  friend, 

Essex. 

And  what  was  Burghley  doing  all  this  time  ?  To  the 
application  made  to  him  through  his  sons  in  April,  his 
answer,  if  he  gave  any,  has  not  been  preserved.  But  on 
the  29th  of  August,  Lady  Bacon  received  from  him  the 
following  letter :  — 

Good  Madam, — I  thank  you  for  your  kind  letter;  and  for 
your  sons,  I  think  your  care  of  them  is  no  less  than  they  both 
deserve,  being  so  qualified  in  learning  and  virtue  as  if  they  had 

1  Alluding  perhaps  to  some  translations  from  Boetius,  De  Comnlntione,  with 
which  she  is  said  to  have  consoled  herself  after  the  news  of  the  French  liinjj's 
»postasy. 


116  HOPE  STILL  DEFERRED.  [Book  L 

a  supply  of  more  health  they  wanted  nothing.  But  none  are, 
or  very  few,  ah  omni  jjarte  heati ;  for  such  are  not  elect,  but  sub- 
ject to  tentations  from  the  highway  to  heaven.  For  my  good- 
will to  them,  ttiough  I  am  of  less  power  to  do  my  friends  good 
than  the  world  thinketh,  yet  they  shall  not  want  the  intention 
to  do  them  good.  And  so  God  continue  you  in  his  favor  by 
your  meditations,  and  that  I  as  your  old  friend  may  be  partaker 
of  your  good  wishes  and  prayers. 

From  my  house  at  Theobald's,  the  29th  of  August,  1593. 
Your  Ladyship's  loving  brother-in-law, 

W.  BURGHLEY. 

If  I  am  right  in  supposing  that  from  the  beginning 
Burghley  thought  the  suit  for  the  Attorneyship  unlikely 
to  succeed,  and  therefore  injudicious,  this  is  just  such  a 
letter  as  might  have  been  expected.  He  did  not  wish  to 
cross  the  suit ;  to  encourage  it  would  have  been  to  flatter 
with  false  hopes.  I  see  no  reason  wliatever  to  doubt  the 
sincerity  of  his  profession  of  goodwill,  and  if  he  was  pre- 
pared to  recommend  Bacon  for  Solicitor  when  Coke 
should  be  made  Attorney  (which  the  event  showed  would 
have  been  the  wiser  course),  no  one  can  say  that  he  be- 
lied it. 

Meantime  Christmas  passed  without  any  resolution 
concerning  tlie  Attorneyship  either  way.  On  the  ISth 
of  January,  Bacon  was  informed  by  tlui  Earl  that  he 
might  retire  at  liis  pleasure,  for  notliing  more  would  be 
done  till  Easter  term  ;  and  his  thirty-third  birthday 
found  liim  still  uiij)referred,  still  without  professional 
practice,  still  entangled  in  the  im;i\  oidiilde  expenses  of 
iitteiidanee  id)()ut  the  C'ourt,  and  gi-adually  growing  fa- 
miliar with  tli(^  f;it!ii  necessity  of  borrowing  money  to 
pay  tlu^  interest  due  iipnii  iiioiiey  nlready  borrowed. 

']'])(!  strongest  point  against  liacon's  pretensions  for  tlie 
Attornevslii])  was  his  want  of  pi'actiee.  His  o|)j)oneiit3 
Kaid  that  '"lie  had  never  entered  llie  place  of  battle,." 
Wlielher   this  was   because   he    could    not    liiid   clients,  or 


1593-94.]  BACON'S   FIRST  PLEADINGS.  117 

because  he  did  not  seek  tliem,  I  cannot  sa3\  It  is  certain 
that  his  ambition  never  pointed  to  the  life  of  a  private 
lawyer  as  his  lit  vocation,  and  that  as  often  as  he  began 
to  despair  of  employment  in  the  service  of  the  Crown,  he 
began  likewise  to  think  of  giving  up  his  profession.  It 
was  important,  however,  in  present  circumstances  to  meet 
the  objection  by  showing  what  he  could  do  ;  and  oppor- 
tunity favored  him.  On  the  25th  of  Januar}^  159-^-94, 
he  made  his  first  pleading  in  the  King's  Bench  —  ap- 
pearing for  the  heir  of  Lord  Cheyney  against  the  pur- 
chasers of  his  land  —  and  acquitted  himself  so  well  that 
Burghley  sent  his  secretary  "to  congratulate  unto  him 
the  first-fruits  of  his  public  practice,"  and  to  ask  for  a 
note  of  "  his  case  and  the  chief  points  of  his  pleading,  to 
the  end  he  might  make  report  thereof  there  wliere  it 
might  do  him  most  good."  On  the  5th  of  February  he 
argued  another  case  in  the  King's  Bench,  and  on  the  9th 
appeared  again  "  in  a  most  famous  Chequer  Chamber 
case,  where  the  Lord  Keeper  and  the  Lord  Treasurer  (if 
he  were  able),  the  two  Lords  Chief  Justices,  with  two 
other  judges  of  each  bench,  the  Lord  Chief  Baron,  and 
the  rest  of  the  Barons,"  were  expected  to  be  present. 

A  letter  from  Nicholas  Fauiit  (11th  of  February) 
speaks  of  this  pleading  as  having  obtained  general  ap- 
plause. "  I  hope  (he  says)  his  Saturday's  work  (though 
half-holiday)  shall  weigh  more  than  the  whole  week's 
travel  employed  by  some.  Howsoever,  in  my  poor  opin- 
ion, it  cannot  but  be  well  in  the  end  that  is  generally  of 
all  sorts  so  well  taken." 

No  doubt  it  was  a  successful  performance,  and  Bacon 
prepared  to  retire  to  Twickenham  for  the  vacation  (which 
began  on  the  l-3th  of  February  and  lasted  till  the  17th 
of  April)  with  an  increased  reputation,  and  the  ap]^ear- 
ance  of  a  better  cliance  of  success  in  his  suit ;  which 
Essex  continued  to  follow  on  his  behalf  as  earnestly  as 
ever,  though  without   making  any  real   way.     Two  va- 


118  ESSEX'S  FIRMNESS  IN  BACON'S  BEHALF.  [Book  I. 

cancies  among  the  puisne  judges  had  been  recently  filled 
up,  but  the  Mastership  of  the  Rolls  was  still  empty  ;   no 
one  had  yet  been  appointed  to  succeed  Walsingham,  who 
had  been  dead  now  nearly  four  years  ;  and  there  was  an- 
other secretaryship  vacant  besides.     Burghley,  weary  of 
the  delay,  had  begun  to  press  the  Queen  for  a  decision, 
and  "  straitly  urged  her  to  the  nomination  of  Coke  to  be 
her  Attorney  General "  —  the  Rolls  seem  to  have  been 
all  along  destined  for  Sir  Thomas  Egerton  —  "  and  also 
to  the  nomination  of  a  pair  of  secretaries,  Sir  Robert 
Cecil  and  Sir   Edward  Stafford,  and  a   pair  of  other  of- 
ficers in  her  household."     But  Essex  set  his  face  against 
all  these  appointments,  and  in  a  conversation  with  Sir 
Robert  Cecil  (30th  of  January)  declared  himself  more 
resolutely    than    ever  in    favor    of    Bacon.       Sir   Robert 
"  prayed  him  to  be  better  advised  ;  saying,  '  If  your  Lord- 
ship had   spoken  of  the  solicitorsJiip,  that  might  be   of 
easier  digestion  to  the  Queen.'     '  Digest  me  no  digesting 
(said  the  Eavl)  ;  for  the  Attorneyship  is  that  I  must  have 
for  Francis  Bacon  ;  and  in  that  I  will  spend  my  uttermost 
credit,    friendsliip,    and    authority    against  whomsoever, 
and  that  whosoever  went  about  to  procure  it  to  others, 
that  it  should   cost  both   the   mediators  and   the  suitors 
the  setting  on  before  they  came  by  it.     And  this  be  you 
assured  of,  Sir  Robert,'  quoth  the  Earl,  'for  now  do  I  fully 
declare  myself;  and  for  your  own  part.  Sir  Robert,  I  do 
think  much   and   strange  both   of  my  Lord  your  father 
and  you,  that  can  have  the  mind  to  seek  the  preferment 
of  a  stranger  bofon;  so  near  a  kinsman  ;  namely  consider- 
ing if  you  weigh  in  a  balance  his  parts  and  sufficiency  in 
any  respect  with   those  of  his  competitor,  excepting  only 
four  poor  years  of  admittance,  which  Fnmcis  Bacon  hath 
more  than  recompensed  with  the  ])riority  of  his  reading, 
in  all  other  respects  you   shall   liml   no  comparison  be- 
tween tliem.' "  ^ 

1  A.  15.  to  his  mother,  Sth  l"i'l)ruiiry,  1593-94. 


1593-94.]  THE  CONSPIEACY  OF   DR.   LOPEZ.  119 

In  such  terms  the  matter  stood  at  the  beghming  of  the 
Easter  vacation,  before  the  end  of  which  it  was  Hkely  at 
last  to  be  settled.  I  do  not  find  that  at  this  time  Bacon 
took  any  part  in  the  canvass  himself. 

The  vacation  supplied  him  with  a  little  piece  of  work 
of  another  kind  ;  which  also  fell  in  seasonably  to  prove 
his  capacities  for  business.  The  Earl  of  Essex  had  been 
engaged  for  the  last  three  months  in  tracing  the  par- 
ticulars of  a  conspiracy,  which,  though  nothing  was  sus- 
pected at  first  more  than  a  Portuguese  intrigue  with  the 
King  of  Spain,  turned  out  to  be  nothing  less  than  a  plot 
to  murder  Queen  Elizabeth.  Don  Antonio  was  at  that 
time  entertained  in  England  as  the  lawful  King  of  Por- 
tugal, driven  from  his  throne  by  Philip.  But  as  his 
prospects  grew  dimmer,  his  followers  began  to  fall  away 
and  to  think  of  making  their  peace  with  the  usui'per  ; 
whose  favor  they  could  best  deserve  (living  as  they  did 
about  the  English  Court)  by  the  sale  of  English  secrets. 
About  the  middle  of  October,  1593,  suspicion  of  some 
such  transaction  falling  upon  one  Ferrera  de  Gama,  a 
Portuguese  gentleman  in  Don  Antonio's  service,  he  was 
apprehended ;  himself  handed  over  to  his  master,  and  his 
papers  to  the  Earl  of  Essex,  with  commission  to  searcli 
the  matter  out.  Order  was  accordingly'  taken  to  inter- 
cept all  letters  and  messengei's  addressed  to  subjects  of 
Portugal  resident  in  England.  By  these  it  soon  ap- 
peared that  some  important  secret  was  in  hand,  but  so 
carefully  wrapt  up  that  nothing  could  be  distinctly  made 
out,  until  Ferrera  himself,  in  his  anxiety  to  avoid  detec- 
tion, furnished  a  clue  which  being  closely  followed  led  to 
the  discovery  of  aU.  This  was  a  letter  despatched  by 
him  in  great  secrecy  to  one  Dr.  Lopez,  physician  to 
Queen  Elizabeth,  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  Don 
Antonio.  By  this  it  appeared  that  a  certain  messenger 
was  expected  from  the  Continent  with  letters,  the  dis- 
covery of  which   would  be  fatal  to  tliem  both.     It   was 


120  CONSPIRACY  OF  DR.   LOPEZ.  [Book  I. 

clear  therefore  tliat  Lopez,  of  whose  fidelity  nobody  had 
the  least  suspicion,  was  somehow  concerned  in  the  in- 
trigue ;  and  Ferrera  being  interrogated  upon  the  matters 
thus  disclosed,  and  finding  that  it  was  useless  to  deny  all, 
and  concluding  that  Lopez  had  betrayed  him,  was  con- 
tent to  admit  thus  much :  that  himself  and  others  had 
indeed  been  endeavoring  to  make  their  peace  with  Spain, 
and  that  Lopez,  who  had  for  some  years  been  in  corre- 
spondence with  the  King,  was  a  party  to  the  negotiation. 
This  declaration,  though  set  down  in  writing  for  Don 
Antonio  as  early  as  the  11th  of  November,  was  not  made 
known  to  the  Government  till  the  20th  of  January  ;  for 
what  reason  I  cannot  guess.  It  seems  however  that  the 
Cecils  were  eitlier  wanting  in  their  usual  sagacity  on  this 
occasion,  or  unwilling  to  help  forward  an  investigation 
which,  having  been  entrusted  almost  entii-ely  to  their 
young  rival,  would  put  a  new  feather  in  his  cap  if  it  led 
to  anything  important.  It  is  certain  that  at  first  neither 
they  nor  the  Queen  attached  any  importance  to  the 
charge  against  Lopez  ;  and  when  he  was  examined  upon 
it  (21st  January)  and  his  house  searched,  and  no  papers 
of  intelligence  found  there,  the  accusation  was  set  down 
as  a  malicious  calumny,  and  Essex  himself  as  "  a  rash 
and  temerarious  youth  to  enter  into  a  matter  against  the 
poor  man  which  he  could  not  i>rove,"  thereby  com- 
promising the  Queen's  honor.  liut  Essex  had  better 
grounds  for  his  suspicion  than  they  thought.  He  had 
conduct(;d  the  examination  in  person  ;  had  seen  the  faces 
of  the  witnesses  and  heard  their  voices  ;  had  closely 
studied  all  the  intercepted  correspondence  ;  and  so  re- 
ceived de(^pe^  and  truer  impressions,  probably,  than  the 
written  depositions  could  convi^y.  And  though  he  took 
the  Queen's  rebuke  In  such  dudgeon  that  for  the  next 
two  days  Iw,  would  not  conu^  out  of  his  chainber,  yet 
presently  rehmting  Ik;  resolved  t<>  justify  himself  by  fol- 
lowing up  the  scent.     This  he  did   with  such  skill  and 


1593-94.]  CONSPIRACY  OF  DR.   LOPEZ.  121 

assiduity  that  through  a  careful  scrutiny  of  all  the  in- 
tercepted letters,  and  repeated  examination  of  the  sev- 
eral parties  whom  they  had  in  custody,  evidence  enough 
was  extracted  within  a  few  days  to  implicate  Lopez  in  a 
much  more  serious  charge  than  even  he  had  suspected. 
"  I  have  discovered "  (he  writes  to  Anthony  Bacon  on 
the  28th  of  January)  "  a  most  dangerous  and  desper- 
ate treason.  The  point  of  conspiracy  was  her  Majesty's 
death.  The  executioner  should  have  been  Dr.  Lopez  ; 
the  manner  poison.  This  I  have  so  followed  as  I  will 
make  it  as  clear  as  the  noonday."  Lopez  was  then  sent 
to  the  Tower ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  ensuing  month  a 
case  was  made  out  (not  however,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  till 
one  of  the  chief  witnesses  had  liad  the"  manacles  "shown 
to  him)  clear  enougli  to  go  to  a  jury  with,  and  on  the 
28th  of  February  he  was  tried  at  Guildhall  and  found 
guilty. 

Up  to  this  point  Bacon  had  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  case  ;  unless  Essex,  whom  he  frequently  saw  while 
it  was  going  on,  consulted  him  about  it  privately  ;  which 
we  do  not  know.  But  it  was  no  ordinary  business.  Two 
principal  officers  of  the  King  of  Spain  were  directly  and 
deeply  implicated  in  the  plot.  It  is  hardl}'^  possible  to 
doubt  that  the  King  himself  knew  and  approved  of  it  ; 
and  proof  of  this  was  inextricabl}^  interwoven  with  the 
evidence  produced  on  the  trial.  Now  it  was  desirable  for 
many  reasons  that  a  case  so  grave,  so  singular,  and  so 
complicated  should  be  embodied  in  an  authentic  narrative 
for  the  information  and  satisfaction  of  the  public.  But 
how  was  Philip's  part  in  it  to  be  treated  ?  Elizabeth 
was  always  strongly  disposed  to  stand  by  her  order ; 
always  loath  to  degrade  her  office  by  publishing  the 
crimes  of  kings  and  queens,  even  though  tliey  were  en- 
emies and  she  herself  the  party  sinned  against.  And  it 
would  seem  from  the  number  of  narratives  of  this  case 
which  were  drawn  up  at  the  time  but  not  published,  that 


122  CONSPIRACY  OF  DR.   LOPEZ.  [Book  I. 

upon  this  point  there  was  a  division  of  opinion  among  her 
councillors.  The  final  resolution  however  was  to  publish 
nothing  for  the  present,  and  to  delay  the  execution  of 
Lopez  r  in  liope  that  Philip  (who  must  have  known  well 
enough  from  the  proceedings  at  the  trial  how  much  his 
own  character  was  concerned)  would  take  some  step  to 
clear  himself  of  the  imputation. 

Meanwhile,  among  the  other  narratives  which  were 
drawn  up  but  not  published,  was  one  by  Bacon,  who  was 
present  at  the  trial ;  written  (as  appears  by  an  incidental 
allusion  to  the  French  king's  entry  into  Paris)  before  the 
end  of  March  ;  but  whether  by  the  Queen's  direction,  or 
at  Essex's  request,  or  at  his  own  suggestion,  I  cannot  say. 
Judging  by  the  elaborate  title  which  it  bears,i  I  should 
think  it  was  composed  with  a  view  to  publication,  though 
I  believe  it  appeared  in  print  for  the  first  time  in  the 
''Resuscitatio"  (1057),  and  as  I  have  met  with  no  manu- 
script copy,  I  conclude  that  it  had  never  been  much  cir- 
culated. It  is  interesting,  though  the  composition  is 
hasty  and  careless,  not  only  as  containing  the  clearest 
and  most  compendious  account  of  the  case  that  is  to  be 
found,  but  also  as  giving  Bacon's  idea  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  King  of  Spain's  part  in  the  business  was  to  be 
touched  upon. 

Of  the  use  which  was  made  of  this  paper  we  have  no 
account,  nor  of  the  imiiression  made  on  the  Queen  by 
Bacon's  professional  successes  during  the  preceding  term. 
AH  we  know  is  tliat  tlie  effect  was  not  decisive  in  his 
favor.  Though  at  tiie  end  of  Marcli  the  law  places  wen^ 
still  unlill<-d,  it  seems  to  have  been  now  undcistood  that 
('()k(-  was  to  b."  y\ltonicy.  Essex's  -  iittcriiiost  credit, 
friendship,  an. 1   authority  "  had  been   si^-nt  in   opposing 

1  "A    tru-  R.|""'    "f  ""■    l''"""!-'''''^   Tr.'asoii,    iiilcn.l.'.l    l.y    l>i-.   Il-a.'iip. 

UlH-/,  a  Physician  atl.M..li..«  <'P<'"  tl.«  Person  .,f  tli-  Q .n's  Mairsty,  Whoi.i 

t...  f„r  u  Sum  of  Mon-v,  pronusnl  to  be  ,mi.l  t-  llin.  l.y  ll.c  Kin^  ol  S|m.M,  .li.l 
„„,l.rlak.-  to  l.avc  destrov-.l  l.y  Poison  ;  wilh  .•.•riain  Ciir.nnstann.s  both  of  the 
PloUin«  and  Detecting  of  llie  Minie  Treason.    I'.-iine.l  .luring  the  Qneen  8  Life. 


1593-94.]  CANVASS  FOR  THE  SOLICITORSHIP.  123 

that  resolution,  but  spent  in  vain.  He  had  only  suc- 
ceeded in  procuring  a  long  delay,  which  was  itself  anj"^- 
thinsr  but  a  benefit ;  and  he  was  content  at  last  to  be  a 
suitor  on  his  friend's  behalf  for  that  which  two  months 
before  he  had  disdained  to  hear  of,  the  Solicitorship.  In 
this  secondary  suit,  however,  he  seemed  to  have  every 
prospect  of  prevailing.  Among  Bacon's  competitors  for 
the  Solicitorship,  there  was  none  eminent  enough  to  be 
even  talked  of  as  a  formidable  rival.  Among  the  coun- 
cillors and  courtiers  there  was  none  consi^icuous  enough 
to  have  been  mentioned  by  name  as  opposing  him.  The 
list  of  his  declared  supporters,  on  the  other  hand,  in- 
cluded Essex,  Burghley,  the  Lord  Keeper,  the  new 
Master  of  the  Rolls,  the  Vice-Chamberlain,  and  all  the 
Judges,  whose  interest  was  now  united  in  his  favor.  But 
though  the  accessories  were  so  much  changed  to  his 
advantage,  the  original  and  real  impediment  remained 
where  it  was,  and  as  it  was.  His  conduct  in  the  last 
Parliament  had  neither  been  forgotten  nor  explained  nor 
forgiven  ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  his  own  subse- 
quent behavior  had  done  nothing  either  to  efface  the 
remembrance  or  to  alter  the  significance  of  it.  Much  as 
he  had  lamented  the  displeasure  which  it  had  provoked 
in  the  Queen,  he  had  never  yet  acknowledged  it  as  a 
fault  in  himself,  and  therefore  it  is  but  justice  to  admit 
that  if  she  had  a  right  to  resent  it  as  an  offense  when  it 
was  committed  (which  I  think  she  had  not),  she  had  a 
riffht  to  continue  her  resentment  still,  as  for  an  offense 
which  had  not  been  repented  of.  And  to  this  obstruc- 
tion in  the  Queen's  will  (which  I  have  no  doubt  was  the 
main  hindrance  to  Bacon's  promotion)  there  was  prob- 
ably added  a  secret  current  of  opposition  from  another 
will  as  strong  as  her  own,  namely,  Coke's  ;  whose  posi- 
tion and  reputation  and  overruling  confidence  (sweetened 
as  in  those  days  it  was  witli  a  reverence  for  the  Majesty 
royal  quite  sufficient  to  make  it  palatable)  would  give 


124:  LETTEH  TO  ESSEX.  [Book  I. 

him  many  opportunities  of  influencing  her  judgment  in 
the  choice  of  a  law-officer ;  and  who  certainl}'  disliked 
Bacon,  and  held  him  cheap  both  as  to  acquirements  and 
abilities,  and  I  dare  say  really  thought  him  unfit  for  the 
place.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  among  Bacon's  disad- 
vantages that,  being  still  denied  access  to  the  Queen,  he 
had  no  means  of  speaking  for  himself.  How  annoying 
the  delay  was  to  him,  we  may  leai'n  from  a  letter  which 
he  wrote  at  this  time  (30th  March,  1593)  to  the  Earl  of 
Essex  :  — 

My  Lokd  :  —  I  thank  your  Lordship  very  much  for 
yonr  kind  and  comfortable  letter,  which  I  hope  will  be 
followed  at  hand  with  another  of  more  assurance.  And 
I  nnist  confess  this  very  delay  hath  gone  so  near  me,  as 
it  hath  almost  overthrown  my  health.  For  when  I  re- 
volved the  good  memory  of  my  father,  the  near  degree 
of  alliance  I  stand  in  to  my  Lord  Treasurer,  your  Lord- 
shi])'s  so  signalled  and  declared  favor,  the  honorable  testi- 
monv  of  so  many  counsellors,  the  commendation  unla- 
bored and  in  sort  offered  by  my  Lords  the  Judges  and 
the  Master  of  the  Rolls  elect;  that  I  was  voiced  with 
great  expectation,  and  (though  I  say  it  myself)  with  the 
wishes  of  most  men,  to  the  higher  place  ;  that  I  am  a 
man  that  the  Queen  hath  already  d<me  for  ;  and  princes, 
especially  her  Majesty,  loveth  to  make  an  end  where  they 
begin  ;  and  then  add  hereunto  the  obscureness  and  many 
exceptions  to  my  competitors;  when  (I  say)  I  revolve 
all  this,  I  cannot  but  conclude  with  myself  that  no  man 
ever  received  a  more  exquisite  disgrace.  And  therefoi-e 
truly,  my  Lord,  I  was  determincil,  mid  am  determined, 
\i  \h'.v  Majesty  reject  me,  this  to  do.  My  nature  can 
tak(!  no  evil  ply;  but  I  will  by  (Jod's  assistance,  with 
this  disgrace  of  my  fortune,  and  yet  with  that  comfort  of 
th<!  good  opinion  of  so  many  honorable  and  worthy  per- 
sons, retire  niyself  with  a  couple  of  men  to  Cambridge, 


15H3-94.]  PLANS  IX  CASE  OF  REJECTION.  125 

and  there  spend  my  life  in  my  studies  and  contempla- 
tions, without  looking  back.  I  humbly  pray  your  Lord- 
ship to  pardon  me  for  troubling  you  with  my  melancholy. 
For  the  matter  itself,  I  commend  it  to  your  love.  Only 
I  pray  you  communicate  afresh  this  day  -with  my  Lord 
Treasurer  and  Sir  Robert  Cecil ;  and  if  you  esteem  my 
fortune,  remember  the  point  of  precedency.  The  objec- 
tions to  my  competitors  your  Lordship  knoweth  partly. 
I  pray  spare  them  not,  not  over  the  Queen,  but  to  the 
great  ones,  to  show  your  confidence  and  to  work  their 
distaste.  Thus  longing  exceedingly  to  exchange  troub- 
ling your  Lordship  with  serving  you,  I  rest 
Your  Lordship's, 

In  most  entire  and  faithful  duty, 

F.  B. 

I  humbly  pray  your  Lordship  I  may  hear  from  you 
sometime  this  day. 

Egerton  and  Coke  had  their  patents  for  their  respec- 
tive offices  made  out  and  delivered  on  the  10th  of  April, 
1594  ;  but  no  resolution  was  taken  as  to  the  solicitorship. 
Bacon's  friends  could  not  induce  the  Queen  to  admit  him 
to  her  presence,  or  take  his  case  into  serious  considera- 
tion. He  himself  appears  to  have  remained  passive. 
He  had  not  been  at  Court  during  the  month,  and  the 
only  letters  of  his  which  have  been  preserved  relate  to 
other  matters.  His  patience  was  in  fact  wearing  out,  as 
well  it  might.  "  Touching  my  brother,"  Anthony  writes 
to  his  mother  on  the  17th  of  May,  "  we  are  both  resolute 
that  in  case  he  be  not  placed  betwixt  this  and  the  next 
term,  never  to  make  any  more  words  of  it."  And  1 
think  it  probable  that  he  Avould  really  have  taken  this 
occasion  to  cast  himself  loose  and  fulfill  the  resolution  in- 
timated in  liis  letter  to  Essex  of  the  30th  of  March,  if 
the  Queen  (who  meant  to  punish  but  not  to  lose  him) 
had  not  contrived  to  renew  his  lease  of  patience  by  em- 


12G  THE  QUEEN  SHOWS  SIGNS  OF   RELENTING.         [Book  I. 

ploying  him  in  a  service  of  importance.  From  a  casual 
remark  in  a  letter  to  his  mother  it  appears  that  as  late 
as  the  9th  of  June,  which  was  the  end  of  the  first  week 
in  Trinity  Term,  the  Queen  had  not  held  out  any  posi- 
tive encouragement  to  him,  nor  done  anything  to  sweeten 
his  disappointment.  She  did  not  think  fit,  however,  to 
try  him  with  another  long  vacation  passed  in  total  eclipse, 
lest  his  liope  should  go  quite  out ;  which  was  not  her  in- 
tention. Before  the  term  was  over,  therefore,  she  let  a 
ray  from  the  light  of  her  countenance  fall  upon  him. 

The  conspiracy  of  Lopez  had  been  detected  ;  himself 
and  his  two  confederates  had  been  tried,  found  guilty, 
and  after  remaining  for  three  months  under  sentence  of 
death,  at  last  executed.  But  there  were  more  conspira- 
cies behind,  the  bottom  of  which  liad  not  yet  been  fath- 
omed. The  authors  and  contrivers  did  not  themselves 
venture  within  reach,  but  corresponded  with  some  per- 
sons in  the  north  of  England ;  their  plot  being  to  procure 
the  assassination  of  the  Queen,  and  at  the  same  instant 
to  raise  a  rebellion.  Two  of  the  i)arties  to  this  corre- 
spondence—  Henry  Walpole  and  Edward  Lyugen  — liad 
been  taken  and  sent  up  to  London,  where  they  had  al- 
ready undergone  several  examinations.  On  the  loth  of 
June,  Lyngen  was  examined  again  in  the  Tower,  —  I 
think  for  the  fifth  time;  and  on  this  occasion  Bacon's 
name  appears  among  the  signatures.  It  seems  tlierefore 
that  though  the  Queen  still  refused  to  speak  with  liini, 
she  had  at  hist  relented  so  far  as  to  em{)loy  him  ;  a  fact 
of  the  more  importance  because  I  find  no  evidence  of 
l)is  having  been  employed  before  in  any  service  of  this 
nature.  Other  signs  of  relenting  slie  showed  in  speeches 
to  liis  friends  ;  nor  were  these  favorabUi  symptoms  :dto- 
gethcn-  faUacious  :  for  early  in  thc^  next  month  we  lind 
l5;icoii  en<le;ivoring  to  borrow  a  sum  of  money  to  furnish 
hiui  for  a  journey  towards  the  north,  wliich  lie  was  to 
undertake  ininiechately,  upon   souh'  inipoilant  business  of 


1593-94.]      BACON'S  LETTER  TO  THE  QUEEN.         127 

the  Queen's ;  Anthou}^  assisting  him  as  usual  with  all  his 
credit  and  interest,  and  offering  to  pledge  his  own  estate 
as  a  security  for  the  repayment  of  the  loan.  What  this 
business  was,  is  not  expressly  stated  ;  but  on  comparing 
the  time  with  the  other  circumstances  before  and  aftei-, 
I  have  no  doubt  that  it  related  to  this  new  conspiracy, 
the  seat  of  which  being  somewhere  in  the  north,  it  was 
necessary  to  send  some  one  down  to  study  it  on  the  spot. 
Bacon  had  proceeded  on  his  "northern  journey"  as 
far  as  Huntingdon,  when  he  was  attacked  with  some  ill- 
ness, which,  though  of  no  great  consequence  in  itself, 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  travel.  This  we  learn 
from  the  following  letter  from  himself  to  the  Queen  :  — 

FRANCIS  BACON  TO  THE  QUEEN. 

Most  gracious  and  admirable  Sovereign,  —  As 
I  do  acknowledge  a  providence  of  God  towards  me  that 
findeth  it  expedient  for  me  tolerare  jugum  in  juventute 
med,  so  this  present  arrest  of  me  by  his  divine  Majesty 
from  your  Majesty's  service  is  not  the  least  affliction  that 
I  have  proved.  And  I  hope  your  Majesty  doth  conceive 
that  nothing  under  mere  impossibility  could  have  de- 
tained me  from  earning  so  gracious  a  vail  as  it  pleased 
your  Majesty  to  give  me.  But  your  Majesty's  service 
by  the  grace  of  God  shall  take  no  lack  thereby  [and 
thanks  to  God,  it  hath  light  upcm  him,  that  may  be  best 
spai'ed]  ;  only  the  discomfort  is  mine  ;  who  nevertheless 
have  the  private  comfort  that  in  the  time  I  have  been 
acquainted  with  this  service  it  hath  been  my  hap  to 
stumble  upon  somewhat  unseen,  which  may  import  the 
same  [as  I  made  my  Lord  Keeper  acquainted  before  my 
going].  So  leaving  it  to  God  to  make  a  good  ending 
of  a  liard  beginning  [and  most  humbly  craving  your 
Majesty's  pardon  for  presuming  to  tnmble  your  Maj- 
esty],^  I  recommend  your  sacred  Majesty  to  God's  tend- 

1  The  words  witliiu  brackets  arc  iiiteiliuL-d. 


128     DISCOURSE  TOUCHING  THE  QUEEN'S   SAFETY.       [Book  I. 

erest  preservation.    From  Huntingdon,  this  20th  of  July, 
1594. 

Your  sacred  Majesty's 

in  most  humble  obedience  and  devotion, 

Fr.  Bacon. 

His  illness  did  not  confine  him  long,  though  long 
enough  to  prevent  him  from  proceeding  on  his  mission  ; 
and  being  so  near  Cambridge  he  made  use  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  take  his  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  ;  which  was 
conferred  upon  him  in  a  special  congregation,  the  usual 
exercises  and  ceremonies  being  dispensed  with,  on  the 
27th  of  July.  But  we  have  no  further  news  of  the  visit : 
and  by  the  end  of  the  month  we  find  him  in  London 
again,  and  well. 

Being  thus  interrupted  in  the  prosecution  of  the  par- 
ticular case,  his  thoughts  would  naturally  turn  to  the 
general  question  —  whether  better  measures  might  not 
be  taken  for  encountering  at  their  source  those  con- 
spiracies against  the  Queen's  life,  of  which  every  year 
brought  forth  a  fresh  one.  Among  the  papers  at  Lam- 
beth there  are  two  rough  drafts  in  his  handwriting  which 
seem  to  have  been  parts  of  a  lost  treatise  on  that  sub- 
ject ;  the  produce  probably  of  tliat  little  interval  of  leis- 
ure which  liis  illness  forced  upon  him.  One  is  docketed 
by  himself  ''  The  first  fragments  of  a  discourse  touching 
intelligence  and  the  safety  of  the  Queen's  person,"  and 
cannot  well  have  been  written  earlier  than  January,  or 
later  tlian  September,  1594.     It  runs  thus  :  — 

"  The  first  remedy  in  my  poor  opinion  is  that  against 
which  as  I  conceive  least  ex;ce])tioii  om  \n\  taken,  as  a 
thing  without  controversy  lionorablc  and  j)olitic  ;  and 
that  is  thf.  reputation  of  good  intclligencje,  T  say  not 
imly  gooi]  inlcUigrnce,  Imt  tli.'  n-pntatinii  mid  fame 
thereof.  For  I  hcc  tiiat  when'  l)nMllis  arr  s.'t  U>v  walcli- 
iiig    thievish    i)lac«'S    there    is    no    more    robbing.       And 


1593-94.]     DISCOURSE  TOUCHING  THE  QUEEN'S  SAFETY.         129 

though  no  doubt  the  watchmen  many  times  are  asleep  or 
away,  yet  that  is  more  than  the  thief  knoweth,  so  as  the 
empty  booth  is  strength  and  safeguard  enough.  So  like- 
wise if  there  be  sown  an  opinion  abroad  that  her  Maj- 
esty hath  much  secret  intelligence,  and  that  all  is  full  of 
spies  and  false  brethren,  the  fugitives  will  grow  into  such 
a  mutual  jealousy  and  suspicion  one  of  another,  as  they 
will  not  have  the  confidence  to  conspire  together,  not 
knowing  whom  to  trust,  and  thinking  all  practice  boot- 
less, as  that  which  is  assured  to  be  discovered.  And  to 
this  purpose  (to.  speak  reverently  as  becometh  me),  as  I 
do  not  doubt  but  that  those  honorable  counsellors  to 
whom  it  doth  appertain  do  carefully  and  sufficiently 
take  order  that  her  Majesty  receive  good  intelligence  , 
so  yet  under  correction,  methinks  it  is  not  done  Avith 
that  glory  and  note  to  the  world  which  was  in  Mr.  Sec- 
retary Walsingham's  time.  And  in  this  case  as  was 
said  opinio  veritate  major. 

"  The  second  remedy  I  deliver  with  less  assurance,  as 
that  which  is  more  removed  from  the  compass  of  mine 
understanding ;  and  that  is  to  treat  and  negotiate  with 
the  King  of  Spain  or  Archduke  Ernest,  who  resides  in  the 
place  where  these  conspiracies  are  most  forged,  upon  the 
point  of  the  law  of  nations  ;  upon  which  kind  of  points 
princes  enemies  niay  with  honor  negotiate;  viz.  that  con- 
trary to  the  same  law  of  nations  and  the  sacred  dignity 
of  kings  and  the  honor  of  arms,  certain  of  her  Majesty's 
subjects  (if  it  be  not  thought  meet  to  impeach  any  of 
his  ministers)  refuged  in  his  dominions  have  conspired 
and  practiced  assassination  against  her  Majesty's  per- 
son." 

Here  the  paper  ends ;  nor  is  there  anything  to  show 
that  there  was  ever  any  more  of  it.  The  last  paragraph 
fixes  the  date  of  the  composition  between  the  30th  of 
January,  1593-94,  wlien  Archduke  Ernest  entered  upon 
the  government  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  the  early  part 


130      DISCOURSE  TOUCHING  THE  QUEEN'S   SAFETY.       [Book  I. 

of  September,  ^Yllen  Elizabeth  applied  to  him  for  a  pass- 
port for  a  messenger,  whom  she  proposed  to  send  "  With 
the  avowed  purpose  of  expostulating  with  him  the  wicked 
practices  of  the  Spanish  king's  ministers  and  her  Maj- 
esty's rebels  in  going  about  to  take  her  Majesty's  life  by 
poisonings  and  murderings,"  —  which  being  the  very 
step  that  Bacon  in  this  paper  advises,  must  be  supposed 
to  have  been  taken  subsequently  to  it,  whether  in  con- 
sequence or  not. 

Whoever  was  the  author  of  it,  it  brought  no  good  effect 
except  that  of  putting  the  Archduke  in  4lie  wrong.     For 
though  he  sent  the  passport,  he  accompanied  it  with  a 
letter  so   little  respectful  that  Elizabeth  broke   oft"  the 
negotiation  at  once  ;  and  resolved  "  by  more  public  man- 
ner to  declare  it  to  the  world  how  far  the  said  king  was 
directly  to  be  touched  in  that  foul  and  wicked  practice." 
And  shortly  after  was  published  the  -  true  report  of  sun- 
dry horrible  conspiracies,  etc.,"  which    I   have  already 
mentioned  in  connection  with  Bacon's  report  of  the  Lopez 
case,   and   which  differs    from    it    in    this    respect,    that 
whereas  the  object  of  Bacon's  paper  was  to  explain  the 
fact  and  the  evidence,  the  object  of  this  was  to  fix  upon 
tlie  King  of  Spain  the  imputation  of  being  at  the  bottom 
of  it.     '''The  Lord  Treasurer  Burghley  (says  Coke  in  a 
MS.  note  on  the  title-page  of  the  copy  now  in  the  British 
Museum)  thought  best  to  rely  principally  upon  the  con- 
fessions  of   the   delinquents,   without  any   inferences  or 
arguments ;"  and  adds,  "this  book  was   never  answered 
to  my  knowledge ;  and  this  is  the  best  kind  of  publica- 
tion." . 

Tlic  other  rough  draft  is  on  a  separate  sheet,  and  is 
do.-keted,  also  by  Bacon  himself,  "  The  first  copy  of  my 
discourses  tou.'hing  the  safety  of  the  Queen's  person." 
But  this  docket  app(;ars  to  have  Ixcn  written  on  the 
ba.-k  of  the  last  sheet  of  thcs  bundle  ;  which  would  lie  on 
the  outside  wluMi  tlus  papers  Wi-re  iul.led    up;   and  the 


l5!).3-04.]     DISCOURSE  TOUCHING  THE  QUEEN'S  SAFETY.        131 

rest  have  slipped  out  and  been  lost.  For  the  only  sheet 
now  remaining  contains  nothing  but  the  concluding  para- 
graph, which  runs  thus:  — 

"  These  be  the  principal  remedies  I  could  think  of  for 
extirpating  the  principal  cause  of  those  conspiracies,  by 
the  breakinfr  the  nest  of  those  fugitive  traitors,  and  the 
filling  them  full  of  terror,  despair,  jealousy,  and  revolt. 
And  it  is  true  I  thought  of  some  other  remedies,  which 
because  in  mine  own  conceit  I  did  not  so  well  allow,  1 
therefore  do  forbear  to  express.  And  so  likewise  I  have 
thought  and  thought  again  of  the  means  to  stop  and 
divert  as  well  the  attempts  of  violence  as  poison  in  the 
performance  and  execution.  But  not  knowing  how  ray 
travel  may  be  accepted,  being  the  unwarranted  wishes 
of  a  private  man,  I  leave;  humbly  praying  her  Majesty's 
pardon  if  in  the  zeal  of  my  simplicity  I  have  roved  at 
things  above  my  aim." 

It  is  a  pity  that  more  of  this  treatise  lias  not  been  pre- 
served, for  the  discussion  of  the  question  would  have 
given  a  livelier  and  juster  idea  of  the  real  conditions  of 
the  time  than  any  modern  narrator  can  supply  ;  which 
conditions,  if  we  would  form  a  true  judgment  of  the 
men  who  had  to  deal  with  the  business  of  that  day,  it  is 
very  necessai'y  that  we  should  both  know  and  remember. 
To  condemn  the  intercepting  of  letters  as  immoral ;  to 
show  how  the  practice  of  examining  suspected  persons 
privately  upon  interrogatories  might  be  abused  into  a 
means  of  ensnaring  the  innocent ;  to  prefer  the  escape  of 
ten  guilty  to  the  suffering  of  one  not  guilty:  all  this  is 
natural,  and  requires  no  great  virtue  in  an  Englishman 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  But  we  must  not  forget  that 
even  to  an  Englishman  of  the  nineteenth  century  such 
doctrines  are  natural  only  in  the  case  of  crimes  by  which 
none  of  the  great  interests  of  society  are  supposed  to  be 
endangered  ;  upon  the  prevention  of  which  nothing  vital 
is  felt  to  depend.     For  even  now  cases  occur  occasionally 


132  THE  DUTIES   OF  A  CROWN  LAWYER.  [Book  I. 

when  the  ne  quid  detrimenti  respuhliea  capiat  dispenses 
with  our  ordinary  rules  of  evidence.  Even  now,  if  every 
year  brought  forth  an  attempt  under  the  auspices  of 
Rome  and  Austria  to  assassinate  tbe  Queen ;  and  if  we 
really  believed  that  upon  the  assassination  of  the  Queen 
would  follow  the  loss  of  Protestantism  and  Habeas  Cor- 
pus ;  we  should  be  less  content  to  allow  the  attempter 
ten  chances  of  impunity  against  one  of  punishment.  For 
Austria  put  Spain,  and  such  was  in  Queen  Ehzabeth's 
time  the  simple  historical  fact.  What  mighty  interests 
were  believed  to  hang  upon  her  life  may  be  inferred  from 
the  number  and  pertinacity  of  the  attempts  that  were 
made  to  take  it.  And  when  we  see  what  deep  prepara- 
tions and  what  insidious  methods  were  for  that  purpose 
resorted  to,  together  with  the  manner  in  wdiich  they 
were  actually  defeated,  we  cannot  but  admit  that  with- 
out large  powers  rigorously  used  by  her  Council  her  life 
would  not  have  been  safe  for  a  day.  Nor  is  the  remem- 
brance of  these  facts  more  essential  to  a  just  appiecia- 
tion  of  the  character  of  the  Government  than  to  a  right 
apprehension  of  the  duties  of  private  subjects.  Feeling 
how  deep  an  interest  we  still  have  in  Bacon's  other 
labors  and  how  little  in  these,  we  naturally  exclaim, 
what  a  pity  that  one  who  might  liave  been  devoting  his 
time  to  our  business  should  have  wasted  so  mucli  of  it 
upon  his  own  !  But  let  us  not  forget  what  that  business 
was.  "  To  serve  the  Queen  in  place  "  (for  that  was  the 
condition  upon  which  alone  he  could  have  pursued  the 
vocation  of  a  lawyer  with  satisfaction  to  himself)  was 
nothing  less  tlian  to  assist  in  the  preservation  of  the  Stati; 
from  imminent  surrounding  perils,  in  the  warding  oil"  of 
which  not  liis  own  age  only  but  all  succeeding  ages,  ours 
as  much  as  any,  had  a  deep  interest.  I  do  not  say  that 
the,  defeat  of  our  enemies  could  not  have  been  accom- 
plished without  liis  help:  it  wius  but  Utile  he  was  allowed 
to  do,  and   the  danger  i)assed  notwithstanding.      But  I 


1593-94.]         STATE  OF  ELIZABETH'S  COUNCIL-TABLE.  1.33 

say  that  it  depended  upon  him  among  the  I'est,  and  that 
to  desire  a  forward  post  in  such  a  service  was  natural  to 
a  man  who  felt  equal  to  the  duties  of  it  and  anxious  for 
the  issue.  No  one  who  saw  the  tunes  from  his  point 
of  view  could  possibly  think  such  an  employment  un- 
worthy of  him  ;  for  no  one  could  think  that  it  was  such 
service  as  any  other  man  could  have  performed  equally 
well.  To  secure  at  once  the  detection  of  the  guilty,  the 
acquittal  of  the  innocent,  the  quieting  of  public  fears, 
the  satisfaction  of  a  Protestant  majority  justly  irritated, 
and  the  clear  vindication  of  the  Government  against  sus- 
picion of  injustice  towards  the  Catholic  minority,  was  a 
task  requiring  the  rarest  combination  of  sagacity,  pru- 
dence, patience,  candor,  temperance,  and  fortitude;  and 
many  illustrations  might  be  found  in  the  annals  of  Eliza- 
beth's reign  of  great  inconveniences  traceable  directly  to 
the  imperfect  performance  of  it.  Elizabeth  was  not 
nearly  so  well  provided  with  counsel  now  as  she  had 
been.  Walsingham  w^as  gone ;  Burghley  was  nearly 
worn  out,  and  frequently  disabled  for  business ;  Robert 
Cecil,  though  very  acute,  dexterous,  and  industrious,  and 
for  so  young  a  man  well  pi-acticed,  had  more  of  craft  than 
wisdom  ;  Essex  was  only  twenty-seven  years  old,  quite 
new  in  business,  naturally  impetuous  and  governed  by 
casual  impulses,  and  ambitious  of  greatness  rather  in  war 
than  at  the  council-board  ;  of  Cobham  we  know  \  ut  lit- 
tle ;  Raleigh  was  out  of  favor  and  away  ;  there  was  no 
Solicitor  General  ;  and  Coke,  who  was  now  the  principal 
champion  of  the  Crown  in  the  courts  of  criminal  justice, 
where  its  most  hazardous  battle  had  to  be  fought,  was 
impatient,  intemperate,  offensive,  overbearing,  and  (for 
all  his  subtlety  and  legal  skill)  had  no  genius  either  for 
discovering  the  truth  so  that  he  might  choose  an  unas- 
sailable position,  or  for  maintaining  it  in  such  a  manner 
•as  to  carry  with  him  the  sympathies  of  a  popular  audi- 
ei'.ce  :  for  his  great  errors  in   this  kind,  Avliich  are  com- 


13-4  EXAMINATION  UPON  INTERROGATORIES.  [Book  I 

monly  iidmitted,  but  imputed  to  the  servility  of  bis  youth, 
are  in  my  opinion  more  truly  attributable  to  willfuhiess 
of  temper  and  defect  of  understanding.  In  such  circum- 
stances, who  can  say  that  Bacon,  being  called  on  to  assist 
in  the  investigation  of  a  secret  and  extensive  conspiracy 
of  which  no  one  yet  knew  either  the  centre  or  the  circum- 
ference, ought  to  have  declined  the  task  and  retired  with 
a  couple  of  men  to  philosophize  at  Cambridge  ? 

From  this  task  his  illness,  though  it  prevented  him 
from  proceeding  with  the  special  business  on  which  he 
had  been  dispatched,  did  not  otherwise  absolve  him.     On 
his  return  to  London  at  the  end  of  July  he  found  the 
Council  busy  with  the  examination  of  persons  implicated 
in  the   plot,  — Essex   and  Cobham    bearing    a  principal 
part.     And  it  was  not  long  before  he  was  himself  em- 
ployed again  as  an  examiner,  and  engaged  in  drawing  up 
"  interrogatories,"    for   guidance  in   the    preliminary  in- 
vestigations which  all  cases  underwent  before  they  were 
brought  into  court.     Of  this  part  of  the  detective  process 
as  then    practiced,  modern  popular    writers,  lawyers  as 
well  as  historians,  are  apt  to  speak  as  a  scandalous  abuse 
of  power,  — a  process  essentially  iniquitous,  — in  inten- 
tion, in   theory,  in   practice,  merely  tyrannous  and    op- 
posed to  the  true  ends  of  justice.     And  liable  to  abuse  it 
no  doubt  was,  as  all  secret  proceedings  nnist  be  ;  for  the 
Government  acted  under  no  effective  check,  beyond  the 
fear  of   seeing  their  case  break  down  when  it  came    to 
public  trial;  and  this  was  materially  diminished  by  the 
then  general  practice  of  the  Courts,  in  rc^ceiving  as  evi- 
d.-nc  depositions  of  witnesses  that  had  been  taken   pn- 
vatrlv,  without  requiring  that  the  witnesses  themselves 
Kliouid  be  produced  in  open  court  to  eoniirm  them.     Cer- 
tainly there  was  nothing  to  luw.Mit  a  Clov.M-nment  from 
abusing  such  a  power,  except  consci(Miee  and  shame.    But 
,.„naeience  and  shame  have  their  operation  in  princes  and 
ministers  as  in  other  men,  and  the  question  is  wheil.er 


1593-94.]         EXAMINATION    ITON    INTKIIROGATORIES.  135 

during  Elizubetb's  rcigu  this  power  was  so  abused.  Now 
I  must  say  that  the  records  which  I  have  examined  (and 
I  have  had  occasion  to  examine  several  in  the  cour^  of 
this  work)  do  not  seem  to  me  to  justify  any  such  impu- 
tation. To  me  the  usual  order  of  proceeding  in  these 
cases  seems,  in  principle  at  least,  rational,  and  the  likeli- 
est that  could  be  adopted  for  the  discovery  of  the  truth, 
supposing  that  to  be  the  object.  Information  is  received 
which  throws  suspicion  upon  A  of  having  been  a  party 
to  some  treasonable  correspondence.  A  is  apprehended 
and  questioned  upon  the  particular  matters  in  which  he 
is  suspected  of  having  had  a  hand.  He  must  say  some- 
thing, and  if  he  cannot  give  the  true  account  of  what  he 
lias  done,  he  must  give  a  false  one.  The  questions  and 
answers  are  carefully  set  down,  generally  signed  by  him- 
self, always  signed  by  the  Commissioners  before  whom 
the  examination  is  taken.  He  is  then  remanded.  Upon 
a  careful  scrutiny  of  his  statement  it  appears  that  if  true 
it  will  be  confirmed,  if  false  confuted,  by  the  evidence  of 
B  and  C,  whom  it  implicates.  B  and  C  are  then  sent 
for  and  severally  questioned.  Not  knowing  what  A  has 
said,  they  can  hardly  invent  statements  which  shall  agree 
in  all  particulars  with  his  and  with  each  other,  unless  all 
be  true.  Their  answers  are  taken  down  in  like  manner, 
and  are  found  upon  a  like  scrutiny  to  involve  new  partic- 
ulars. This  supplies  matter  for  a  fresh  examination  of  A. 
The  same  process  is  repeated  as  long  as  it  promises  to 
bring  out  anything  new  ;  till  at  last  by  successive  siftings 
the  several  witnesses  (each  being  carefully  kept  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  others'  tale)  find  themselves  involved  in 
irreconcilable  contradictions  or  inextricable  embarrass- 
ments ;  and  one  or  other,  in  despair  of  maintaining  the 
falsehood,  confesses  the  truth.  This  I  believe  to  be  a  cor- 
rect description  of  the  Elizabethan  practice  ;  and  though 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  a  government  bent  upon  making 
vut  a  case,  and  using  unscrupulously  all  the    means    at 


3^36  MONEY  MATTERS.  [Book  I. 

their  disposal  for  terrifying,  tempting,  or  perplexing  tlie 
examiuates,  for  suppressing  the  statement  of  one  and 
garbling  the  statement  of  another,  might  by  this  method 
extort  evidence  which  would  make  an  innocent  man  seem 
guilty,  _  and  that  this  is  a  good  reason  for  altering  the 
practice, —neither  can  it  be  denied  that  a  government 
bent  upon  discovering  the  truth,  and  using  their  po^Yers 
fairly  and  scrupulously  to  that  end,  would  by  this  method 
have  the  best  chance  of  succeeding.  And  I  do  not  see 
why  a  government  in  the  judgment  of  history  is  not  en- 
titled to  the  same  benefit  as  a  private  man  in  the  judg- 
ment of  his  peers,  — that  of  being  presumed  innocent  in 
the  absence  of  direct  evidence  implying  or  indicating 
guilt. 

The  winter  of  1594  set  in  early  with  frost  and  snow ; 
and  still  no  Solicitor  appointed.  Meanwhile  the  burden 
of  debt  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  necessary  suppHes 
was  daily  increasing.  Anthony's  correspondence  during 
this  autumn  is  full  of  urgent  applications  to  various 
friends  for  loans  of  money,  mucb  of  his  own  necessity 
arising  from  his  anxiety  to  supply  the  necessities  of  his 
brother. 

It  is  not  often,  I  suppose,  that  a  relation  of  debtor  and 
creditor  like  this  continues  long  even  between  the  best 
friends  without  nuvking  their  intercourse  more  or  less 
uncomfortable  ;  especially  when  the  lender  has  so  good 
an  excuse  for  objecting  to  fresh  deman.ls  as  that  of  not 
being  able  to  lend  more  without  embarrassing  liimself, 
and ''placing  himself  under  fresh  obligations  to  other  ac- 
quaintance. It  is  worth  recording,  therefore,  that  in  all 
this  corresp.mdencc  I  lind  no  trace  of  disiigreemi'ut  be- 
tween these  brothers.  Not  a  word  of  reproof,  exjiostu- 
lation,  reluctan<-e,  or  impati.MK-e,  drops  from  Anthony: 
though  his  temper  had  nmeh  of  tiie  irritability  as  wi-11 
as  all  the  generosity  which  commonly  belongs  to  an  affec- 
tionate nature  ;  an.l  the  fact  deserves  notice,  not  merely 


1593-94.]  HOLIDAY  OCCUPATIONS.  137 

for  tlie  lionor  which  it  reflects  upon  himself,  but  as  afford- 
ing a  strong  presumption  that  he  at  least,  who  had  the 
best  means  of  judging  and  was  every  way  so  much  inter- 
ested, did  not  disapprove  the  course  which  Francis  was 
taking,  or  suspect  him  of  prodigality  or  carelessness. 

To  suppose  that  Bacon's  mind  was  not  troubled  with 
this  disease  in  his  finances,  would  be  a  great  and  unjust 
reproach.  We  shall  see  shortly  that  he  had  in  fact  once 
more  resolved  to  shake  himself  free  of  the  ties  which 
bound  him  to  a  service  so  much  worse  than  unprofitable 
so  far  as  he  was  himself  concerned.  We  shall  see  also  by 
what  means  and  upon  what  conditions  he  was  tempted 
once  more  to  renew  his  term. 

But  it  was  no  part  either  of  his  duty  or  his  nature  to 
waste  his  spirits  in  vain  regret.  The  vacation  gave  him 
leisure  for  work,  and  Christmas  brought  festivities  for 
recreation.  And  it  happens  luckily  that  some  traces  re- 
main of  the  manner  in  which  he  improved  both.  It 
was  on  the  5th  of  December,  1594,  that  he  commenced 
his  "  Promus  of  Formularies  and  Elegancies,"  in  which 
may  be  traced  (if  I  have  read  it  right)  the  footprints  of 
a  journey  in  the  mind  over  a  large  field  of  reading  and 
meditation,  with  a  view  to  fix  the  leading  features  in 
memory  and  store  them  for  future  use.  And  it  was  on 
the  29th  of  the  same  month  that  he  was  called  in  to  as- 
sist in  "  recovering  the  lost  honor  of  Gray's  Inn,"  which 
had  suffered  the  night  before  by  the  miscarriage  of  a 
Christmas  revel. 

The  circumstances  are  set  forth  at  full  length  in  a 
tract,  which  is  not  difficult  to  procure,  having  been  re- 
printed in  Nichols's  "Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth."^ 
But  as  Bacon's  name  does  not  appear  upon  the  face  of 
the  narrative  ;  and  "as  his  connection  with  it,  though  suf- 
ficiently obvious,  has  never  so  far  as  I  know  been  pointed 
out  or  suspected ;  I  assume  that  the  little  story  which  ] 

1  III.  262. 


138  MERRY  CHRISTMAS  AT  GRAY'S  INN.  [Book  I. 

am  o-oing  to  tell  (presenting  as  it  does  a  curious  and  very 
picturesque  illustration  of  the  manners  of  the  time  and 
the  humors  of  the  people  among  whom  all  his  early  and 
middle  life  was  spent)  is  not  so  familiar  to  the  students 
of  his  works  but  that  they  will  be  glad  to  see  it  here. 

"  I  trust  they   will    not    mum  nor  mask  nor  sinfully 
revel  "  (so  writes  Lady  Bacon  to   her  son  Anthony,  on 
the  5th  of  December),  "  at  Gray's  Inn.    Wlio  were  some- 
time counted   first,  God  grant  they  wane  not  daily  and 
deserve  to  be  named  last."     But  it  was  too  late  for  pray- 
ing.    The  youth  of  Gray's  Inn   were   already  deep  in 
sinful  consultation.     Their  revels,  in  which  they  used  to 
excel,  had  been  intermitted  for  the  last    three  or  four 
years,  and  they  were  resolved   to  redeem   the   time  by 
producing  tills  year  something  out  of  the  common  way. 
Their  device  was  to  turn  Gray's  Inn,  "  with  the  consent 
and  advice  of  the  Readers  and  Ancients,"  into  the  sem- 
blance of  a  court  and  kingdom,  and  to   entertain  each 
other  during  the  twelve  days  of  Christmas  license  with 
playing  at   kings  and   counsellors.     They  proceeded  ac- 
cordingly to  elect  a  prince  —  the    Prince    of   Purpoole. 
They  provided  him  with   a  Privy  Council  for  advice  in 
matters  of  state  ;   with  a  presence-chamber  for  audience, 
and  a  council-chamber  for  business;   witli  all  officers  of 
state,   law,   and  household  ;    with  gcntlenuMi   pensioners 
to  wait  on  his  person,  and  a  guard,  with  a  captain  of  the 
guard,  to   defend   it.     They  raised   treasure  for  the  sup- 
port of  his  state   and  dignity,  partly  by  a   benevolence, 
which   was    granted    by  those    who    were    present,    and 
I)artly  by  "  letters   in   the  nature   of   privy  seals  "  which 
were   directed  to  those  who  were  away.     They  sent  to 
"their  anci.'Ut  allied  friend,  the  Inner  Temple,"  a  formal 
communication   of    their  proceedings,   with    request    that 
an  ambassad<.r  from   tliat  state    might  be  sent   to   reside 
amongst  them  :  which  was  with  (Mjual  formality  accorded, 
''as  ancient  amity  and  league   required  and   deserved." 


1593-94.]     MERRY  CHRISTMAS  AT  GRAY'S  INN.         139 

On  the  20tli  of  December  the  Prince  with  all  his  state, 
after  the  pattern  of  a  royal  procession  exactly  marshalled, 
proceeded  to  the  great  hall  of  Gray's  Inn,  and  took  his 
seat  on  the  throne.  The  trumpets  sounded  thrice,  the 
King-at-Arras  proclaimed  his  style  and  blazoned  his  arms  ; 
the  Champion  rode  in  in  full  armor  and  threw  down 
his  gage  in  defiance  of  all  disputers  ;  the  Attorney  made 
his  speech  of  congratulation  ;  the  Solicitor  recited  the 
names  of  all  homagers  and  tributaries,  with  the  nature 
of  their  tenures  and  services  (a  recital  which  gave  occa- 
sion to  many  jocose  allusions,  veiled  under  legal  phrase- 
ology —  and  many  of  them  much  in  need  of  a  veil  —  to 
the  manners,  customs,  and  occupations  of  the  several 
suburban  localities),  and  summoned  them  to  appear  and 
do  homage.  A  Parliament,  which  was  to  have  been 
held,  was  given  up,  owing  to  the  necessary  absence  of 
"  some  special  officers  ;  "  but  as  a  subsidy  was  obtained 
and  a  general  pardon  granted  notwithstanding,  the  jest 
was  rather  improved  perhaps  than  injured  by  the  omis- 
sion. The  pardon  was  read  at  full  length ;  an  elaborate 
burlesque,  beginning  with  a  proclamation  of  free  pardon 
for  everv  kind  of  offense  for  which  a  name  could  be  in- 
vented, and  ending  with  a  long  list  of  cases  excepted, 
which  does  in  fact  include  every  offense  which  could  pos- 
sibly be  committed.  Then  the  Prince,  having  made  a 
short  speech  to  his  subjects,  called  his  Master  of  the 
Revels,  and  the  evening  ended  with  dances. 

This  was  the  first  day's  entertainment ;  and  though  the 
humor  has  lost  its  edge  for  us,  it  hit  the  fancy  of  the 
time  so  well  and  raised  such  great  expectation  that  the 
performers  wei-e  encouraged  to  enlarge  their  plan  and 
raise  their  style.  They  resolved  therefore  (besides  all 
this  court-pomp  and  their  daily  sports  among  themselves) 
to  have  certain  "  grand  nights,"  in  which  something 
special  shoidd  be  performed  for  the  entertainment  of 
strangers.    But  the  same  expectation  which  suggested  the 


140  THE  NIGHT  OF  ERRORS.  [Book  I. 

design  spoiled  the  perfovmance.     For  on  the  first  of  these 
"grand    nights"  (which    was    intended    for  the   special 
honor  of  the  Templarians),  when   the   Ambassador  had 
arrived  in  great  state,  and  been  conducted  to  the  presence 
with  sound  of  trumpet,  and  after  interchange  of  elaborate 
compliments  seated  beside  the  Prince,  and  the  entertain- 
ment was  ready  to  begin  before  a  splendid  company  of 
"  lords,  ladies,  and  worshipful  personages  that  did  expect 
some  notable  performance,"—  the  throng  grew  suddenly 
so  great  and  the  stage   so  crowded  with   beholders  that 
there  was  not  room  enough  for  the   actors  ;    and  notlung 
could  be  done.     The  Ambassador  and  his  train  retired 
in  discontent ;  and  when  the  tumult  partly  subsided  they 
were  obliged  (in  default  of  those  "  very  good  inventions 
and   conceipts  "    which   had  been   intended)  to  content 
themselves    with    ordinary   dancing    and   revelhng :   and 
when  that  was  over,  with  "  a  Comedy  of  Errors  (like  to 
Plautus  his  Menechmus),"   which  "  was    played  by  the 
players."     This  performance  seems  to  have  been  regarded 
as  the  crowning  disgrace  of  this  unfortunate  Grand  Night ; 
a  fact,  by  the  way,  indicating   (if  it  were   Shakespeare's 
play,  as  I  suppose  it  was)    either  rich  times  or  poor  tastes; 
for  the  historian  proceeds,  "  so  that  night  was  begun,  and 
continued  to  the  end,  in  nothing  but  confusion  and  errors  ; 
whereui)on  it  was  ever  afterwards  called  the    Night  of 

Error  a  y 

This  was  on  the  28th  of  I)ecend)er.  The  next  night 
was  taken  up  with  a  legal  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  those 
disorders.  A  c(nnmissi(m  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  was 
issued.  A  certain  "sorcerer  or  conjunn-  that  was  suj)- 
posed  to  be  tlie  cause  of  that  confused  inconvenience" 
was  arraigned  bcfon;  a  jury  of  twenty  four  gentlemen,  on 
several  charges;  <>f  wliirli  the  last  was  "  tliat  he  had 
foisted  a  comi)any  of  Imsc  and  c.nimon  fellows  to  make 
up  our  disorders  with  a  phiy  of  (uiors  and  confusions." 
lie  met  the  charge  by  a  counter-statenu-nt,  set  forth  m  a 


1593-94.]  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  141 

petition  wliich  was  presented  and  read  b}'  the  Master  of 
Requests,  showing  that  all  was  due  to  negligence  on  the 
part  of  the  Council  and  great  officers,  and  appealing  to 
the  Prince ;  who  finding  the  allegations  in  the  petition 
to  be  true,  pardoned  and  released  the  prisoner  ;  but  find- 
ing them  also  to  be  offensive,  as  taxing  the  Government, 
and  therefore  not  proper  to  pass  unpunished,  ordered  to 
the  Tower  (along  with  the  Attorney  and  Solicitor,  whose 
delinquencies  it  exposed)  the  Master  of  Requests,  who 
had  been  acquainted  with  its  contents. 

After  this  broad  parody  upon  the  administration  of 
justice  by  the  Crown  in  Council,  they  proceeded  to  "hold 
a  great  consultation  for  the  recovery  of  their  lost  honor  ;" 
which  ended  in  a  resolution  "that  the  Prince's  Council 
should  be  reformed,  and  some  graver  conceipts  should 
have  their  places,  to  advise  upon  those  things  that  were 
propounded  to  be  done  afterward."  And  here  it  is  that 
the  story  begins  to  have  an  interest  for  us.  It  is  most 
probable  that  one  of  these  "  graver  conceipts"  was  Bacon 
himself.  It  is  certain  that  an  entertainment  of  a  very 
superior  kind  was  produced  a  few  days  after,  in  the  prep- 
aration of  which  he  took  a  principal  part. 

Friday  the  8d  of  January,  was  to  be  the  night. 
"  Divers  plots  and  devices  "  were  arranged.  Order  was 
taken  to  prevent  overcrowding  and  confusion.  A  great 
number  of  great  persons,  among  them  the  Lord  Keeper, 
the  Lord  Treasurer,  the  Vice-Chamberlain,  and  several 
other  Privy  Councillors,  were  invited  and  came.  When 
all  were  seated,  the  Prince  came  in  full  state  and  took 
his  throne.  The  Ambassador  from  Teniplaria  followed 
with  his  train,  and  was  placed  by  the  Prince's  side  ;  and 
the  performance  began,  after  the  fashion  of  those  enter- 
tainments, with  a  dumb-show ;  the  object  of  which  was 
to  represent  the  reconciliation  between  Gray's  Inn  and 
the  Temple,  which  had  been  disturbed  by  the  Night  of 
Errors. 


142  GKSTA   GUAYORUM.  [Book  I. 

The  curtain  being  withdrawn  discovered  the  Arch- 
flamen  of  the  Goddess  of  Amity  standing  at  her  altar, 
and  round  it  nymphs  and  fairies  singing  hymns  in  her 
praise,  and  "  making  very  pleasant  melody  with  viols 
and  voices."  Then  came  in,  pair  by  pair,  all  the  heroic 
patterns  of  friendship,  Theseus  and  Pirithous,  Achilles 
and  Patroclus,  Pylades  and  Orestes,  Scipio  and  Laelius, 
each  pair  offering  incense  upon  the  altar  as  they  passed  ; 
"  which  shined  and  burned  very  clear  without  blemish." 
Last  came  Grains  and  Templarius,  lovingly,  arm  in  arm  ; 
but  when  they  offered  their  incense  the  flame  was  choked 
with  "  troubled  smoke  and  dark  vapor,"  until  the  Arch- 
flamen  performed  certain  mystical  ceremonies  and  invo- 
cations, and  the  nymphs  sang  hymns  of  pacification,  upon 
which  the  flame  burnt  up  clearer  than  it  had  ever  done 
before,  and  continued  longer,  and  the  Arch-flamen  pro- 
nounced them  to  be  as  true  and  perfect  friends  as  any  of 
those  others,  and  divined  that  their  love  would  be  per- 
petual ;  "  and  so  with  sweet  and  pleasant  melody  the  cur- 
tain was  drawn  as  it  was  at  the  first." 

The  show  being  ended,  the  Prince  in  token  of  satisfac- 
tion invested  the  Ambassador  and  twenty-four  of  his  ret- 
inue, with  the  Collar  of  the  Knighthood  of  the  Helmet; 
upon  which  the  King-at-Arms,  —  having  first  declared 
how  the  Prince  had  instituted  this  Order  in  memory  of 
the  arms  he  bore,  which  were  given  to  one  of  his  ances- 
tors for  saving  the  life  of  the  then  sovereign,  ''  in  regard 
that  as  the  helmet  defendeth  the  chiefest  part  of  the 
body,  the  head,  so  did  he  then  defend  the  head  of  tiie 
state,"  —  proceeded  to  read  the  articles  of  the  Order; 
which  they  w(M-e  all  to  vow  to  keep,  each  kissing  the  hel- 
met as  he  took  his  vow. 

The  ceremony  of  investiture  was  followed  by  a  "  va- 
riety of  eonsort-inusic"  and  a  ^running  banquet  served 
by  the  Knights  of  the  Helmet  who  were  not  strangers: 
And  s.)  this  part  of  the  entertainment  ended. 


1593-94.]  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  143 

Next  follows  the  part  in  which  we  are  more  especially 
concerned,  that  part  for  the  better  illustration  of  which 
I  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  tell  the  story. 

"  This  being  done  (proceeds  the  narrator)  there  was  a 
table  set  in  the  midst  of  the  stage  before  the  Prince's 
seat ;  and  there  sat  six  of  the  Lords  of  his  Privy  Coun- 
cil, which  at  that  time  were  appointed  to  attend  in  Coun- 
cil the  Prince's  leisure.  Then  the  Prince  spake  to  them 
in  this  manner :  — 

My  Lords:  We  have  made  choice  of  you,  our  most 
faithful  and  favored  counsellors,  to  advise  with  you  not 
any  particular  action  of  our  state,  but  in  general  of  the 
scope  and  end  whereunto  you  think  it  most  for  our  honor 
and  the  happiness  of  our  state  that  our  government 
should  be  rightly  bent  and  directed.  For  we  mean  not 
to  do  as  many  princes  use,  which  conclude  of  their  ends 
out  of  their  own  humors  ^  and  take  counsel  only  of  the 
means,  abusing  for  the  most  part  the  wisdom  of  their 
counsellors  [to^J  set  them  in  the  right  way  to  the  wrong 
place.  But  we,  desirous  to  leave  as  little  to  chance  or 
humor  as  may  be,  do  now  give  you  liberty  and  warrant 
to  set  before  us  to  what  port,  as  it  were,  the  ship  of  our 
government  should  be  bounden.  And  this  we  require 
you  to  do  without  either  respect  to  our  affections  or  your 
own  ;  neither  guessing  what  is  most  agreeable  with  our 
disposition,  wherein  we  may  easily  deceive  you,  for 
Princes'  hearts  are  inscrutable  ;  nor  on  the  other  side 
putting  the  case  by  yourselves,  as  if  you  would  present 
us  with  a  robe  whereof  measure  were  taken  by  your- 
selves. Thus  you  perceive  our  mind  and  we  expect  your 
answer. 

1  honors  in  original. 

2  to  omitted  in  original,  and  abusing  ....  counsellors  within  parenthesis. 


;144  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  [Book  I. 

THE   FIRST   COUNSELLOK,   ADVISING    THE    EXERCISE    OF 


WAK. 


Most  excellent  Prince,  —  Except  there  be  such 
amonost  us,  as  I  am  fully  persuaded  there  is  none,  that 
regardeth  more  his  own  greatness  under  you  than  your 
greatness  over  others,  I  think  there  will  be  little  differ- 
ence in  choosing  for  you  a  goal  worthy  your  virtue  and 
power      For  he  that  shall  set  before  him  your  magna- 
nimity and  valor,  supported  by  the  youth  and  disposition 
of  your  body;  your  flourishing  Court,  like  the  horse  of 
Troy  full  of  brave  commanders  and  leaders  ;  your  popu- 
lous  and   man-rife   provinces,   overflowing  with  warlike 
people;  your  coffers,  like  the  Indian  mines  when   that 
they  were  first  opened;  your  storehouses  and  arsenals, 
like  to  Vulcan's  cave;  your  navy  like  to  an  huge  floating 
city;  the  devotion  of  your  subjects  to  your  crown  and 
person,  their  good  agreement  amongst  themselves,  their 
health  and  provision  ;  and  then  your  strait  ^  and  unrevo- 
cable  confederation  with  these  ^  noble  and  honorable  per- 
sonages, and  the  fame  and  reputation  without  of  so  rare 
a  concurrence,  whereof  all  the  former  regards  do  grow  ; 
how  can  he  think  any  exercise  worthy  of  your  moans  but 
that   of    conquest?     For   in    few    words,   what   is    your 
strength,  if  you  find  it  not?  your  fortune   if  you  try  i 
.ot?  your  virtue,  if  you  show  it  not  ?     Think,  excellent 
l>rince,   what  sense   of    content   you  found   m   yourself 
^vh.n  you  were  first  invested  in  our  state  ;  for  though  I 
know  vour  Excellency  is  far  from  vanity  and  lightness, 
y.t  it^s  the  nature  of  all  things  to  find  rest  when  they 
come  to  due  and  proper  places.      Hut  be  assuiv.l  of  this 
tliat  this  d.dight  will  languish  and   vaiush  ;  for  power 
^vill  quench  appetite  and  satiety  will  in-luce^  tediousness. 

.  s,ren,,n  in  original  ;  for  .hid.  .O.i,!.'  hukI-.  '.-^ '^  ;,     "J^^^;- 
,.•'..     ,  4  So  original,  qy./"'»J't»»""»- 

8  thr  in  onumiil- 
8  endure  in  original. 


1593-94.]  GESTA  GRAYORUil.  145 

But  if  you  embrace  the  wars,  your  trophies  and  triumphs 
shall  be  as  continual  coronations,  that  will  not  suffer 
your  glory  and  contentment  to  fade  and  wither.  Then 
when  you  have  enlarged  your  teri'itories,  ennobled  your 
country,  distributed  fortunes,  good  or  bad,  at  your  pleas- 
ure, not  only  to  particulars  but  to  cities  and  nations ; 
marked  tlie  computations  of  times  with  your  expeditions 
and  voyages,  and  the  memory  of  places  by  your  exploits 
and  victories ;  in  your  later  years  you  shall  find  a  sweet 
respect  ^  into  the  adventures  of  your  youth  ;  you  shall 
enjoy  your  reputation ;  you  shall  record  your  travels  ; 
and  after  your  own  time  you  shall  eternise  your  name, 
and  leave  deep  footsteps  of  your  power  in  the  world.  To 
conclude,  excellent  Prince,  and  most  worthy  to  have  the 
titles  of  victories  added  to  your  other  high  and  deserved 
titles.  Remember,  the  divines  find  nothing  moi^e  glorious 
to  resemble  our  state  unto  than  a  warfare.  All  thinsrs 
in  earnest  and  jest  do  affect  a  kind  of  victory  ;  and  all 
other  victories  are  but  shadows  to  the  victories  of  the 
wars.  Therefore  embrace  the  wars,  for  they  disparage 
you  not ;  and  believe  that  if  any  Prince  do  otherwise  it 
is  either  in  the  weakness  of  his  mind  or  means. 

THE    SECOND    COUNSELLOR,    ADVLSING    THE    STUDY    OP 
PHILOSOPHY. 

It  may  seem,  most  excellent  Prince,  that  my  Lord 
■which  now  hath  spoken  did  never  read  the  just  censures 
of  the  wisest  men,  who  compared  great  conquerors  to 
great  rovers  and  witches,  whose  power  is  in  destruction 
and  not  in  preservation  ;  else  would  he  never  have  ad- 
vised your  Excellency  to  become  as  some  comet  or  blaz- 
ing star,  which  should  threaten  and  portend  nothing  but 
death  and  dearth,  combustions  and  troubles  of  the  world. 
And  whereas  the  governing  faculties  of  men  are  two, 
force  and  reason,  whereof  the  one  is  brute  and  the  other 

'   Probably  rcy/tct  (=  retrospect). 
VOL.  I.  10 


146  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  [Book  I. 

divine,  be  wislieth  you  for  your  principal  ornament  and 
regality  the  talons  of  the  eagle  to  catch  the  prey,  and  not 
the  piercing  sight  which  seeth  into  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 
But  I  contrariwise  will  wish  unto  your  Highness  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  best  and  purest  part  of  the  mind,  and  the 
most  innocent  and  meriting  conquest,i  being  the  conquest 
of  the  works  of  nature  ;  making  this  proposition,^  that 
you  bend  the  excellency  of  your  spirits  to  the  searching 
out,  inventmg,  and  discovering  of  all  whatsoever  is  hid 
and  3  secret  in  the  world ;  that  your  Excellency  be  not  as 
a  lamp  that  shineth  to  others  and  yet  seeth  not  itself,  but 
as  the  Eye  of  the  World,  that  both  carrleth  and   useth 
light.     Antiquity,  that  presenteth  unto  us  in  dark  visions 
the  wisdom  of  former  times,  informech  us  that  the  [gov- 
ernments of]  kingdoms  have  always  had  an  affinity  with 
the  secrets  and  mysteries  of  learning.     Amongst  the  Per- 
sians, tlie  kings  were  attended   on   by  the    Magi.     The 
Gymnosophists  had  all  the  government  under  the  princes 
of  Asia;  and  generally  those  kingdoms  were  accounted 
most  happy,  that  had  rulers  most  addicted  to  philos..phy. 
The  Ptolemies  in  Egypt  may  be  for  instance;  and  Salo- 
mon* was  a  man  so  seen  in  the  universality  of  nature 
tliat  he  wrote  an  herbal  of  all  that  was  green  upon  the 
earth.     No   conquest  of   Julius  Cjesar  made   liim  so  re- 
membered as  the  Calendar.     Alexander  the  Great  wrote 
to  Aristotle,  upon  the  publishing  of  the  Physics,  that  he 
esteemed  more  of   excellent  men  in  knowledge  than  in 
emj)ire.-^     And  to  this  purpose  I  will  commend  to  your 
Highness  four  priiici[)al  works  and  monuments  of  your- 
self':  First,  the  collecting  of  a  most  i)eri'eet  and  general 
library,  whenln  whatsoever  the  wit  of   man  hath  hereto- 
fore Jommitted   to   books  of  worth,   be    they   aneient   or 
modern,  printed  or  manuscript,  European  or  of  the  other 
parts,  of  one  or  other  laii.i^uage,  may  l-c   made,  coutnlui- 

1  n>iue.l  ii.  ori^'i..,-il.  '•'  hU proportion  in  oriK'inal.  »  '«  in  ori-ii.-.' 

4  M>j>non  in  ..liKi.ial.  ''  '»  ""=  '='"/'"•«'  '"  onginal. 


1593-94.]  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  147 

tory  to  3'our  wisdom.  Next,  a  spacious,  wonderful  gar- 
den, wherein  whatsoever  phint  the  sun  of  divers  climates, 
out  of  the  earth  of  divers  moulds,  either  wild  or  by  the 
culture  of  man  brought  forth,  mnj  be  with  that  care  that 
appertaineth  to  the  good  prospering  thereof  set  and  cher- 
ished: This  garden  to  be  built  about  with  looms  to  stable 
in  all  rare  beasts  and  to  cage  in  all  rare  birds ;  with  two 
lakes  adjoining,  the  one  of  fresh  water  the  other  of  salt, 
for  like  variety  of  fishes.  And  so  you  may  have  in  small 
compass  a  model  of  universal  nature  mado  private.  The 
third,  a  goodly  huge  cabinet,  wherein  whatsoever  the 
hand  of  man  by  exquisite  art  or  engine  hath  made  rare 
in  stuff,  form,  or  motion  ;  whatsoever  singularity  chance 
and  the  shuffle  of  things  hath  produced  ;  whatsoever  Na- 
ture hath  wrought  in  things  that  want  life  and  may  be 
kept ;  shall  be  sorted  and  included.  The  fourth  such  a 
still-house,  so  furnislied  with  mills,  instruments,  furnaces, 
and  vessels,  as  may  be  a  palace  fit  for  a  philosopher's 
stone.  Thus,  when  your  Excellency  shall  have  added 
depth  of  knowledge  to  the  fineness  of  [your]  spirits  and 
greatness  of  your  power,  then  indeed  shall  you  be  ^  a 
Trismegistus ;  and  then  when  all  other  miracles  and 
wonders  shall  cease  b}^  reason  that  you  shall  have  discov- 
ered their  natural  causes,  yourself  shall  be  left  the  only 
miracle  and  wonder  of  the  world. 

THE  THIRD  COUNSELLOR,  ADVISING  ETERNIZEMENT  AND 
FAME   BY  BUILDINGS    AND   FOUNDATIONS. 

My  Lords  that  have  already  spoken,  most  excellent 
Prince,  have  both  used  one  fallacy,  in  taking  that  for 
certain  and  granted  which  was  most  uncertain  and  doubt- 
ful ;  for  the  one  hath  neither  drawn  in  question  the  suc- 
cess and  fortune  of  the  wars,  nor  the  utlier  the  dilficulties 
and  errors  in  the  conclusions  of  nature.  But  these  im- 
moderate hopes  and  promises  do  many  times  issue  forth,^ 

1  liii/  in  original.  -  /ruin  in  original. 


248  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  [Book  I. 

those  of  the  wars  into  tragedies  of   ealamities  and  dis- 
tresses ;  and  those  of  mystical  philosophy  into  coined.es 
of  ridiculons   frustrations    and  disappointments  of    such 
conceipts  and  curiosities.     But  on  the  other  side,  m  one 
point  my  Lords  have  well  agreed;  that  they  both  ac- 
cordlno-  to  their  several  intentions  counselled  your  Exce  - 
lency  to  win  fame  and  to  eternize  your  name;  though 
the   one   adviseth  it  in   a  course  of  great   peril,  and  the 
other  of  little   dignity  and  magnificence.     But  the  phun 
and  approved  way,  that  is  safe  and  yet  proportionable  to 
the  greatness  of  a  monarch,  to  present  himself   to   pos- 
terity, is  not  rumor  and  hearsay,  but  the  visible  i  memory 
of  himself   in  2   the   magnificence   of   goodly  and   roya 
buildings    and  foundations,  and  the  new  institutions  of 
orders,  ordinances,  and  societies;  that  is,  that  (as)  your 
coin  be  stamped  with  your  own  image,  so  in  every  part 
of  your  state  there  may  be  somewhat  new,  which  by  con- 
tinuance may  make  the  founder  and  author  remembered. 
It  was  perceived  at  the  first,  when  meu  sought  to  cure 
mortality  by  fame,  that  buildings  was   the   only    way ; 
aud  thereof  proceeded  the  known  lioly  antiqmty  of  build- 
in-  the  Tower  of  Babel;  which  as  it  was  a  sm  m  the 
immoderate  appetite  of  fame,  so  it  was  punished  m  the 
kind;   for  the  diversities  of  languages  have  imprisoned 
fame  ever  since.     As  for  the  pyramids,  the  colosses,  the 
number  of  temples,  colleges,  bridges,  aqueducts,  cast  es 
theatres,  paLvces,   and  the  like,  they   may  show   us  that 
men  ever   mistrusted  any  other  way  to  fame  than   this 
only,  of  works  and  monuments.      Yea  even  they  which 
iK.d  the  best  choice  of  other  means.     Alexander  .hd  not 
tl.ink  his  fam.  so  cigraven  in  his  conquests    but  iha    he 
,,„„,.,,t  i,  furtln-r  shined  in  the  buildings  of  Alexandria. 
Au.^'ustns  CJ:esar  thought  no  man  had  done  gn-atrr  th.ngs 
in    n.ilitarv  actions  tlmn   hims.df,   yet  that   wlu.-h   .t  his 
,,.,,,„   ,;,n"  M.ust  in    his   n.ind  was   his   building,  when  he 

....     I  '^  ism  origiiiul. 

1  uBiiiil  Id  iin,i;iiiiil. 


1593-94.]  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  149 

•said,  not,  as  some  mistake  it,  metaphorically,  but  literally, 
I  found  the  city  of  hrick  hut  I  leave  it  of  marble.  Con- 
stautine  the  Great  was  wont  to  call  with  envy  the  Em- 
peror Trajan,  tvaUJlower,  because  his  name  was  upon  so 
many  buildings ;  which  notwithstanding  he  himself  did 
embrace  in  the  new  founding  of  Constantinople,  and  sun- 
dry other  buildings  ;  and  yet  none  greater  conquerors  than 
these  two.  And  surely  they  had  reason  ;  for  the  fame 
of  great  actions  is  like  to  a  landflood  which  hath  no  cer- 
tain head  or  spring ;  bat  the  memory  and  fame  of  build- 
ings and  foundations  hath,  as  it  were,  a  fountain  in  an 
hill,  which  continually  feedeth  and  refresheth  the  other 
waters.  Neither  do  I,  excellent  Prince,  restrain  my 
speeches  to  dead  buildings  only,  but  intend  it  also  to 
other  foundations,  institutions,  and  creations  ;  wherein  I 
presume  the  more  to  speak  confidently,  because  I  am 
warranted  herein  by  your  own  wisdom,  who  have  made 
the  first-fruits  of  your  actions  of  state  to  institute  the 
honorable  Order  of  the  Helmet ;  the  less  shall  I  need  to 
say,  leaving  your  Excellency  not  so  much  to  follow  my 
advice  as  your  own  example. 

THE  FOURTH  COUNSELLOR,  ADVISING  ABSOLUTENESS  OF 
STATE   AND   TREASURE. 

Let  it  not  seem  pusillanimity  for  your  Excellency, 
mighty  Prince,  to  descend  a  little  from  your  high  thoughts 
to  a  necessary  consideration  of  your  own  estate.  Neither 
do  you  deny,  honoral)le  Lords,  to  acknowledge  safety, 
profit,  and  power  to  be  of  the  substance  of  policy  and 
fame  and  honor  rather  to  be  as  flowers  of  well  ordered 
actions  than  as  good  ends.^  Now  if  you  examine  the 
courses  propounded  according  to  these  respects,  it  must 
oe  confessed  that  the  course  of  wars  may  seem  to  in- 
crease power,  and  the  course  of  contemplations  and  loun- 
dations  not  prejudice  safety.     But  if  you  look  beyond  the 

1  (jukUs  in  original. 


150  GESTA   GKAYORUM.  [Book  I. 

exterior  you  shall  find  that  the  first  breeds  weakness  and 
the  latter  nurse  ^   peril.     For  certain   it  is   during   wars 
your  Excellency  Avill  be  enforced  2  to  your  soldiers  and 
generally  to  your  people,  and  become  less  absolute  and 
monarchical  than  if  you  reigned  in  peace  ;  and  then  if 
your  success  be  good,  that  you  make  new  conquests,  you 
shall  be  constrained  to  spend  the  strength  of  your  an- 
cient   and    settled   provinces    to    assure    your    new    and 
doubtful,  and  become  like  a  strong  man  that  by  taking  a 
great  burden  upon  his  shoulders  maketh  himself  weaker 
than  he  was  before.     Again,  if  you  think  you  may  in- 
tend 3  contemplations  with  security,  your  Excellency  will 
be  deceived  ;  for  such  studies  will  make  you  retired  and 
disused  with  your  business,  whence  will  follow  a  diminu- 
tion 4  of  your  authority.    As  for  the  other  point,  of  erect- 
ing Mn  every  part  of  your  state  something  new  derived 
from  yourself,  it  will  acquaint  your  Excellency  ^  with  an 
humor  of  innovation  and  alteration,  whi.-h  will  make  your 
reign  very  turbulent  and  unsettled  ;  and  many  times  your 
change  will  be  for    [the]  worse,  as   in  the  example  last 
touched  of  Constantino,  who  by  his   new  translation    of 
his  estate  ruinated  the  Roman  Empire.     As  for  profit, 
tliere  appeareth  a  direct  contrariety  between  tliat  and  all 
the  three  courses;  for  nothing  causeth  such  a  dissipation 
of  treasure  as  wars,  curiosities,  and  buildings  ;  and  for  all 
this  to  be  recomi)ensed  in  a  supposed  honor,  a  matter  apt 
to  be   much   extolled    in  words,   but   not  greatly  to  be 
priz('<l'  in  conceipt,  I  do  tliiiik   it  a  loser's   bargain.      Be- 
Bid(^s  tiiat  many  politic  princes    have  received   as  much 
commendation   for   their  wise   and   well-ordered  govern- 
nicut  as  others  hiivc;  done    for  tlieir  ctmquests    and  glori- 
ous  ulTreti<.ns;  and  more  wortliy,  because  the  praise  of 
wisdom  and  judgment  is  less  communicated  with  fortune. 

1  nntt  in  ori-i.u.l.  "  «"  >"  "nKin^l- 

«  not  end  in  .u^uuA.  "  ndvnr.n.n  in  original.  cxercutny. 

6  So  in  ..riKinui.     r-Tlnips  it  should  Ih-,  "your  Kxccllun.y  s  subjects. 

7  lifiiui'l.  ill  (iri^;iM!il. 


1593-94.]  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  151 

Therefore,  excellent  Prince,  be  not  transported  with 
shows.  Follow  the  order  of  nature,  first  to  make  the 
most  of  that  you  possess,  before  you  seek  to  purchase 
more.  To  put  the  case  by  a  private  man  (for  I  cannot 
speak  high),  if  a  man  were  born  to  an  hundred  pounds 
by  the  year,  and  one  show  him  how  with  charge  to  pur- 
chase an  hundred  pounds  more,  and  another  should  show 
him  how  without  charge  to  raise  that  hundred  pounds 
unto  five  hundred  pounds,  I  should  think  the  latter  ad- 
vice should  be  followed.  The  proverb  is  a  country  prov- 
erb, but  significative,  3Iilk  the  coio  that  standeth  still ; 
why  follow  you  her  that  flieth  away?  Do  not  think,  ex- 
cellent Prince,  that  all  the  conquests  you  are  to  make 
be  foreign.  You  are  to  conquer  here  at  home  the  over- 
growing of  your  grandees  in  factions,  and  too  great  lib- 
erties of  your  people  ;  tlie  great  reverence  and  formalities 
given  to  your  laws  and  customs,  in  derogation  of  your 
absolute  prerogatives :  these  and  such-like  be  conquests 
of  state,  though  not  of  war.  You  want  a  Joseph,  that 
should  by  advice  make  you  the  only  proprietor  of  all 
the  lands  and  wealth  of  your  subjects.  The  means  how 
to  strain  up  your  sovereignty,  and  how  to  accumulate 
treasure  and  revenue,  they  are  the  secrets  of  your  state ; 
I  will  not  enter  into  them  at  this  place  :  I  wish  your 
Excellency  as  ready  to  [desire]  them,  as  I  have  the 
means  ready  to  perform  them. 

THE   FIFTH     COUNSELLOR,    ADVISING    HEM   VIRTUE   ANB 
A   GKACIOUS   GOVERNMENT. 

Most  excellent  Prince,  —  I  have  heard  sundry 
plats  and  propositions  offered  unto  you  severally  ;  one  to 
make  you  a  great  Prince,  another  to  make  you  a  strong 
Prince,  and  another  to  nudce  you  a  memorable  Prince,  and 
a  fourth  to  make  you  an  absoluti?  Prince.  But  I  hear  of 
no  invention  ^  to  make  you  a  good  and  a  virtuous  Prince  ; 

~  1  mention  in  oriniual. 


J52  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  [I^^ok  I 

which  surely  my  Lords  have  left  out  in  discretion,  as  to 
arise  of  your  own   motion  and  choice  ;  and  so  I  should 
have  thought,  had  they  not  handled  their  own  proposi- 
tions so  artificially  and  persuadingly,  as  doth  assure  me 
their  speech  was  not  formal.     But  most  worthy  Prince, 
fame  is  too  light,  and  profit  and  surety  are  too  low,  and 
power  is  either  such  as  you  have  or  ought  not  so  to  seek 
to  have.     It  is  the  meriting  of  your  subjects,  the  making 
of  golden  times,  the  becoming  of  a  natural  parent  to  your 
state  ;  these  are  the  only   [fit]   and  worthy  ends  of  your 
Grace's  virtuous  reign.     My  Lords  have  taught  you  to 
refer  all  things   to  yourself,  your  greatness,  memory,  and 
advantage  ;  but  whereunto  shall  yourself  be  referred  ?     If 
you  will  be  heavenly  you  must  have  influence.     Will 
you  be  as  a  standing  pool,  that  spendeth  and  choketh  his 
spring  within  itself,  and  hath  no  streams   nor  current  to 
bless  "and  make  fruitful  whole  tracts  of  countries  where- 
by it  runneth  ?  ^     Wherefore,  first   of  all,  most  virtuous 
Prince,  assure  yourself  of  an  inward  peace,  that  the  storms 
without  do  not  disturb  any  of  your  repairers  of  state  with- 
in.    Therein  use  and  practice  all  honorable  diversions. 
That  done,  visit  all  the  parts  of   your  state,  and  let   the 
balm  distil  everywhere  from  your  sovereign  hands,  to  the 
medicining    of    any   part   that   complaineth.       Beginning 
with  your  seat  of  state,  take  order  tliat  the  faults  of  your 
great  ones^  do   not   rebiamd   upon   yourself;   have  care 
that  your  intelligence,  which  is  the  light  .)f  y..ur  state,  do 
not  go  out  or  burn  dim  or  obscure  ;  advan.-e  men  of  vir- 
tue and  not  of   mercenary  minds  ;  repress  all   faction   b.« 
it  <-ither  malign  or  vi..l(M»t.     Then  look  into  the  state  -.1 
y.Mir  laws  and  justice   <.f   yonr  land  ;   purge  .. at  multiplic- 
ity of    laws,  .-lear   the    ineertainty   of    them,  repeal  those 
tliat  are  snaiin-    and   pi-ss  Mhe   exc-nli-.n  nf  those  that 
Hi-e  wholesmnr   and  necessary  :   ddine  ih.-   jinis<hct  km.    -.1 
your  curls,  repress  '  all  suils  ami  vexations,  all  causel.ss 

1  ren,u,.lh  in  ori^nnal.  =  /"""  •.'/!/""'■  '.f'^'"""^  "'  ';'"'"'""'• 

8  prize  111  orif^iiial.  ' 


I5!).3-fl4.]  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  153 

delays  and  fraudulent  shifts  and  devices,  and  reform  all 
such  abuses  of  right  and  justice;  assist  the  ministers 
thereof,  punish  severely  all  extortions  and  exactions  of 
oflBcers,  all  corruptions  in  trials  and  sentences  of  judg- 
ment. Yet  when  you  have  done  all  this  think  not  that 
the  bridle  and  spur  will  make  the  horse  to  go  alone  with- 
out time  aud  cnstom.  Trust  not  to  your  laws  for  cor- 
recting the  times,  but  give  all  strength  to  good  educa- 
tion ;  see  to  the  government  of  your  universities  and  all 
seminaries  of  youth,  and  to  ^  the  private  order  of  families, 
maintaining  due  obedience  of  children  towards  their  par- 
ents and  reverence  of  the  younger  sort  towards  the  an- 
cient. Then  when  you  have  confirmed  the  noble  and 
vital  parts  of  your  realm  of  state,  proceed  to  take  care  of 
the  blood  and  flesh  and  good  habit  of  the  body.  Remedy 
all  decays  of  population,  make  provision  for  the  poor, 
remove  all  stops  in  traffic,  and  all  cankers  ^  and  causes  of 
consumption  in  trades  and  mysteries  ;  redress  all  —  But 
whither  do  I  run,  exceeding  the  bounds  of  that  perhaps 
I  am  now  demanded  ?  But  pardon  me,  most  excellent 
Prince,  for  as  if  I  should  commend  unto  your  Excellency 
the  beauty  of  some  excellent  Lady,  I  could  not  so  well 
express  it  wdth  relation  as  if  I  showed  you  her  picture  ; 
so  I  esteem  the  best  way  to  commend  a  virtuous  govern- 
ment, to  describe  and  make  appear  what  it  is  ;  but  my 
pencil  perhaps  disgraceth  it ;  therefore  I  leave  it  to  your 
Excellency  to  take  the  picture  out  of  your  wise  obser- 
vation, and  then  to  double  it  and  express  it  in  your 
government. 

THE   SIXTH   COUNSELLOR,    PERSUADING   PASTIMES   AND 

SPORTS. 

When  I  heard,  most  excellent  Prince,  the  three  first 
of  my  Lords  so  careful  to  continue  your  fame  and  mem- 
ory, methought  it  was  as  if  a  man  should  come  to  some 

1  ©/"in  original.  2  cancers  in  original. 


154  GESTA   GRAYORmi.  [Book  I. 

young  prince  as  yourself   is,  and  immecliately  after  liis 
coronation  be  in  band  witb  bi.n  to  make  bimself  a  sump- 
tuous and  stately  tomb.     And,  to  speak  out  of  my  soul, 
I  muse  bow  any  of  your  servants  can  once  endure  totbmk 
of  you  as  of   a  prince  past.     And  for  ray  otber  Lords 
wbo  would  engage  you  so  deeply  in  matters  of  state,  the 
one  persuading   you  to   a  more  absolute,  the  other    to 
a  more  gracious  government,  I  assure  your  Excellency 
their  lessons  were  so  cumbersome,  as  if  they  would  make 
you  a   king  in  a  play,  who,  when   one  would  think   he 
standeth  in  great  majesty  and  felicity,  he  is  troubkxl  to 
say  his  part.    What !  nothing  but  tasks,  nothing  but  work- 
ing-days ?     No  feasting,  no  music,  no  dancing,    no  tri- 
umphs, no  comedies,  no  love,  no  ladies  ?   Let  other  men's 
lives  be  as  pilgrimages,  because  they  are  tied  to  divers 
necessities   and   duties  ;  but  princes'   lives  are  as  prog- 
resses, dedicated  only  to  variety  and  solace.     And  [as]  if 
your  Excellency   should  take  your  barge  in  a    summer 
evening,  or  your  horse  or  chariot,  to  take  the  air  ;  and  if 
you  should  do  any  the  favor  to  visit  him  ;  yet  your  pleas- 
ure is  the  principal,  and  that  is  but  as  it  falleth  out ;  so 
if  any  of  these  matters  which  have   been  spoken  of  fall 
out  in  the  way  of  your  pleasure,  it  may  be  taken,  but  no 
otherwise.     And  therefore  leave  your  wars  to  your  lieu- 
tenants, and  your  works  and  V.uildings  to  your  surveyors, 
and  your  books  to  your  universities,    and  your  stixte-mat- 
ters  to  your  coiinseHors,  and  attend  you  that  in  person 
wnich  you  cannot  execute  by  deputy  :  use  the  advantage 
of  your  youth  ;  be  not  suIUmi  to  your  fortune  ;  make  your 
pleasure  the  distinction  of  your  honors,  the  study  of  your 
favorites,  the  talk  of  your  people,  and  the  allur."m.'nt  of 
all  foreign  gallants  to  your  Court.     And  in  a  word,  sweet 
SovercMgn,  dismiss  your  five  counsellors,  and   only  take 
counsel  of  your  five  senses.^ 

I  Thcrr  f..llc.ws  liorc,  in  the  niirralive  from  which  this  ifl  taken,  a  reply  from 
the  Prii.c,  whid.  reu.ls  to  nic  like  an  interpolation.     It  interrupts  the  action, 


1593-94.]  GESTA  GRAYORUM.  155 

THE   prince's   answer  AND    CONCLUSION   TO   THE 
SPEECHES    OF    THE    COUNSELLORS. 

My  Lords,  —  We  thank  you  for  your  good  opinions  ; 
which  have  been  so  well  set  forth,  as  we  should  think 
ourselves  not  capable  of  good  counsel  if  in  so  great  va- 
riety of  persuading  reasons  we  should  suddenly  resolve. 
Meantime  it  shall  not  be  amiss  to  make  choice  of  the  last, 
and  upon  more  deliberation  to  determine  of  the  rest ;  and 
what  time  we  spend  in  long  consulting,  in  the  end  we 
will  gain  by  prompt  and  speedy  executing. 

"  The  Prince  (proceeds  the  reporter)  having  ended  his  speech, 
arose  from  his  seat  and  took  that  occasion  of  revelling.  So  he 
made  choice  of  a  Lady  to  dance  withal ;  so  likewise  did  the 
Lord  Ambassador,  the  Pensioners,  and  Courtiers  attending  the 
Prince.  The  rest  of  that  night  was  passed  in  those  pastimes. 
The  performance  of  which  night's  work  being  very  carefully 
and  orderly  handled,  did  so  delight  and  please  the  nobles  and 
the  other  auditory,  that  thereby  Gray's  Inn  did  not  only  recover 
their  lost  credit  and  quite  take  away  all  the  iisgrace  that  the 
former  Night  of  Errors  had  incurred ;  but  got  instead  thereof 
so  great  honor  and  applause  as  either  the  good  reports  of  our 
honorable  friends  that  were  present  could  yield,  or  we  ourselves 
desire." 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  elegant  Christmas  enter- 
tainments, probably,  that  was  ever  presented  to  an  audi- 
ence of  statesmen  and  courtiers.  That  Bacon  had  a 
hand  in  the  general  design  is  merely  a  conjecture ;  we 
know  that  he  had  a  taste  in  such  things,  and  did  sorae- 

and  is  inferior  in  style.  It  may  have  been  spoken  extempore  by  the  Prince, 
but  can  hardly  have  been  part  of  the  composition.  It  runs  thus  :  "  But  if  a 
man  sliotild  follow  j'our  five  senses"  (said  the  Prince),  "I  perceive  he  might 
follow  your  Lordship  now  and  then  into  an  inconvenience.  Your  Lordship  is  a 
man  of  a  very  lively  and  pleasant  advice  ;  which  though  one  should  not  be  for- 
ward to  follow,  yet  it  fitteth  the  time,  and  what  our  own  humor  inclineth  «  oft- 
entime  to,  delight  and  merriment.  For  a  prince  should  be  of  a  cheerful  and 
pleasant  spirit,  not  austere,  hard-fronted,  and  stoical,  but,  after  serious  affairs, 
admitting  recreation,  and  u«ing  pleasures  as  sauces  for  meats  of  better  nourish- 
ment." 

«  inclined  in  original. 


166  BACON'S  PART  IN  THE  ENTERTAINMENT.        [Book  I 

times  take  a  part  in  arranging  tliem  ;  and  the  probability 
seemed  strong  enough  to  justify  a  more  detailed  account 
of  the  whole  evening's  work  than  I  should  otherwise  have 
thought  fit.     But  that  the  speeches  of  the  six  councillors 
were  written  by  him,  and  by  him  alone,  no  one  who  is  at 
all  familiar  Avith  his  style  either  of  thought  or  expression 
wiU  for  a  moment  doubt.     They  carry  his  signature  in 
every  sentence.     And  they  have  a  much  deeper  interest 
for  us  than  could  have  been  looked  for  in  such  a  sportive 
exercise  belonging  to  so  forgotten  a  form  of  idleness.    All 
these  councillors  speak  with  Bacon's  tongue  and  out  of 
Bacon's  brain  ;  but  the  second  and  fifth  speak  out  of  his 
heart  and  judgment  also.     The  propositions  of  the  latter 
contain  an  enumeration  of  those  very  reforms  in  state  and 
government  which  throughout  his  life  he  was  most  anx- 
ious to  see  reaUzed.     In  those  of    the  former  may  be 
traced,  faintly  but  unmistakably,  a  first  hint  of  his  great 
project  for  the  restoration  of  the  dominion  of  knowledge, 
—  a  first  draft  of  "Solomon's  House,"  —  a  rudiment  of 
that   history   of    universal    nature,   which    was    to  have 
formed  the  third  i)art  of  the    "  Instauratio,"   and  is  in 
my  judgment  (as  I  have  elsewhere  explained  at  large) 
the  principal  novelty  and  great  characteristic  feature  of 
the  Baconian  philosophy.      This  eoni])()sition  is  valuable, 
therefore,   not   only  as   showing   with   what   lidelity   Ins 
mind  when  left  to  itself  pointed  always,   in   sport  as  in 
earnest,  towards  the  great  objects  which   he  had  .set  be- 
fore him,  but  also  as  giving  us  one  of  the  very  few  cer- 
tain clateH  by  which  we  can  measure  the  progress  of  hit 
philosophical  sj)eculations  in  these  early  years. 

It  remains  for  me  to  give  what  account  1  can  of  thii- 
narrative;  in  which  it  is  preserved. 

It  is  a  (piailo  pamphlet  of  sixty-eight  pages  ;  i.riiited  in 
If'.HiNfor  "  VV.  Canning,  at  his  .six.p  in  i\w  Temi)le  Clois- 
ters ;  "  with  a  dedication  to  Matthew  Smyth,  Esq.,  Comp- 
troller of  the  Inner  Temple  ;  ajiparently  from  a  manu- 


1593-94.]  THE  HOLIDAYS  OVER.  157 

script  written  by  some  member  of  Gray's  Inn  who  was 
an  eye-witness  of  what  he  relates  ;  and  bearing  the  title 
"  Gesta  Grayoram,  or  the  History  of  the  high  and  mighty 
Prince,  Henry,  Prince  of  Purpoole,  etc.,  who  reigned  and 
died  A.  D.  1594."  Whom  it  was  by,  where  and  when  it 
was  found,  how  it  came  into  the  publisher's  hands,  we  are 
not  informed.  We  can  only  gather  from  the  dedication 
that  it  was  found  by  accident,  and  printed  without  altera- 
tion. The  dedication  is  signed  W.  C,  which  stands,  I 
jDresume,  for  W.  Canning,  the  printer.  But  Nichols, 
who  reprinted  the  pamphlet  (without  the  dedication)  in 
his  "  Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth  "  (III.  262),  tells  us 
that  "the  publisher  was  ]Mr.  Henry  Keepe,  who  pub- 
lished the  '  INIonuments  of  Westminster.'  " 

It  is  a  pity  that  the  publisher,  whoever  he  was,  did 
not  tell  us  a  Httle  more  about  the  manuscript,  though  it 
is  probable  enough  that  he  had  not  much  more  to  tell. 
Nothincr  is  more  natural  than  that  such  a  narrative  should 
have  been  written  at  the  time  for  the  amusement  and 
satisfaction  of  the  parties  concerned ;  should  have  been 
laid  by  and  forgotten  ;  and  found  again  lying  by  itself, 
without  anybody  to  tell  its  story  for  it. 

There  is  more  of  it ;  the  historian  proceeding  to  re- 
cord otlier  achievements  of  the  Prince  of  Purpoole,  whose 
reign  was  prolonged  beyond  the  days  of  ordinary  license, 
and  did  not  end  before  Shrove  Tuesday.  But  I  look  in 
vain  for  any  further  traces  of  Bacon's  hand.  His  Christ- 
mas holidays  were  over  ;  Gray's  Inn  Hall  was  stripped 
of  its  scaffoldings  and  regal  furniture  ;  the  business  of 
real  life  commenced  again  ;  and  the  business  which  most 
concerned  him  was  the  appointment  of  a  Si)licitor  Gen- 
eral, which  still  seemed  as  near,  and  was  still  as  far  off, 
as  ever.  But  the  suit  takes  a  somewhat  livelier  aspect 
from  the  closer  proximity  into  which  it  brings  us  with 
the  Queen  herself,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A.  D.    1594-1595,   JANUARY  -  NOVEMBER.      ^TAT.    34. 

While  Bacon's  friends  were  doing  what  tliey  could  to 
speed  this  unfortunate  suit,  he  was  himself  considering 
how  to  make  an  end  of  it,  one  way  or  another.  He  had 
made  up  his  mind,  in  case  he  were  not  appointed  Solicitor 
at  the  beginning  of  the  next  term,  to  give  up  the  suit  and 
the  profession  at  once,  to  waste  no  more  of  his  time  and 
mean-s  in  that  attendance,  but  to  make  such  arrangements 
as  lie  best  miglit  for  betaking  himself  to  the  life  of  a 
student ;  and  in  the  first  place  to  go  abroail  for  awhile. 
This  is  what  he  had  half-determined  to  do  somi;  twenty 
months  before,  just  before  the  Attorney  Generalship  fell 
vacant;  when  he  was  persuaded  to  wait  awhile,  probably 
by  Essex  ;  to  whom  it  seems  that  he  now  declared  his 
int(Mition  to  wait  no  longer,  but  do  it  at  once.  Essex, 
judging  rightly  enough  that  the  Queen  did  not  intend  to 
lose  Bacon  altogether,  thought  to  bring  matters  to  a  crisis 
by  telling  her  what  would  happen  if  she  delayed  longer  : 
a  characteristic  but  unlucky  move  ;  for  it  was  a  kind  of 
chalhMige  which  her  spirit  could  never  endure.  On  Tues- 
day, January  21,  Bacon  was  sent  for  to  the  Court;  and 
on  Saturday  sent  his  brother  the  following  account  of 
what  passed. 

The  passage  about  his  brother's  "  travels  "  alludes  to 
liis  study  of  tiie  affairs  of  Europe  during  ten  years'  resi- 
dence abroad,  the  acrpuiiutanees  he  h:id  cultivated,  the 
information  which  he  had  su])plied  to  Hurghley  and  Wal- 
singham,  and  the  extensive  correspondence  which  he  still 


1594-95.]        LETTER  TO  ANTHONY  BACON.  159 

kept  up ;  in  consideration  of  which  it  was  hoped  that  the 
Queen  would  find  some  employment  for  him  in  that  line. 

Good  Brother,  —  Since  I  saw  you  this  hath  passed. 

Tuesday,  though  sent  for,  I  saw  not  the  Queen.  Her 
Majesty  alleged  she  was  then  to  resolve  wdth  her  Coun- 
sel upon  her  places  of  law. 

But  this  resolution  was  ut  supra  ;  and  note  the  rest  of 
the  counsellors  were  persuaded  she  came  rather  forwards 
than  otherwise.  For  against  me  she  is  never  peremptory 
but  to  my  Lord  of  Essex. 

I  missed  a  letter  of  my  Lord  Keeper's  ;  but  thus  much 
I  hear  otherwise. 

The  Queen  seemeth  to  apprehend  my  travel ;  where- 
upon I  was  sent  for  by  Sir  Robert  Cecil  in  sort  as  from 
her  Majesty ;  himself  having  of  purpose  immediately 
gone  to  London  to  speak  with  me,  and  not  finding  me 
there,  he  wrote  to  me.  Whereupon  I  came  to  the  Court, 
and  upon  his  relation  to  me  of  her  Majesty's  speech,  I 
desired  leave  to  answer  it  in  writing ;  not  I  said  that  I 
mistrusted  his  report  but  mine  own  wit;  the  copy  of 
which  answer  I  send  ;  we  parted  in  kindness  secundum 
exterius. 

This  copy  you  must  needs  return ;  for  I  have  no 
other;,  and  I  wrate  this  by  memory  after  the  oi'iginal 
sent  awaj'-. 

The  Queen's  speech  is  after  this  sort.  Why  ?  I  have 
made  no  Solicitor.  Hath  anybody  carried  a  Solicitor 
with  him  in  his  pocket?  But  he  must  have  it  in  his 
own  time  (as  if  it  were  but  yesterday's  nomination)  or 
else  I  must  be  thouglit  to  cast  him  away.  Then  her 
Majesty  sweareth  that  if  I  continue  this  manner,  she  will 
Beek  all  England  for  a  Solicitor  rather  than  take  me. 
Yea  she  will  send  for  Houghton  and  Coventry  ^  to-mor- 

1  Thciinas  Coventry,  afterwards  One  of  the  Justices  of  the  Coinmou  Picas, 
and  father  of  the  Lord  Keeper  Coventry.  —  BiucH. 


IQQ  HIS   STANDING  WITH  THE  QUEEN.  LB»«k  I. 

row  next  (as  if  she  would  swear  thein  both).  Agahi 
she  eiitereth  into  it,  that  she  never  dealt  so  with  any  as 
with  me  (in  hoe  erratum  non  est) ;  she  hath  palled  me 
over  the  bar  (note  the  words,  for  they  cannot  be  her 
own),  she  hath  nsed  me  in  her  greatest  causes.  But 
this  is  Essex;  and  she  is  more  angry  with  him  than 
with  me;  and  such-like  speeches,  so  strange,  as  I  should 
leese  myself  in  it,  but  that  I  have  cast  off  the  care  of 

it. 

My  conceit  is,  that  I  am  the  least  part  of  mine  own 
matter.  But  her  Majesty  would  have  a  delay,  and  yet 
would  not  bear  it  herself.  Therefore  she  giveth  no  way 
to  me,  and  she  perceiveth  her  counsel  giveth  no  way  to 
others,  and  so  it  sticketh  as  she  would  have  it.  But 
what  the  secret  of  it  is  oculus  aquilce  non  penetravit. 

My  Lord  i  continueth  on  kindly  and  wisely  a  course 
worthy  to  obtain  a  better  effect  than  a  delay,  which  to 
me  is  the  most  unwelcome  condition. 

NoAV  to  perform  the  part  of  a  brother  and  to  render 
you  the  like  kindness.  Advise  you  whether  it  were  not  a 
good  time  to  set  in  strongly  with  the  Queen  to  draw  her 
to  honor  your  travels.  For  in  the  course  I  am  like  to 
take,  it  will  be  a  great  and  a  necessary  stay  to  me,  besides 
the  natural  comfort  I  shall  receive.  And  if  you  will 
have  me  deal  witii  my  Lord  of  Essex,  or  otherwise- break 
it  by  mean  to  the  Queen,  as  that  which  shall  give  me 
full  contentment,  I  will  do  it  as  eff.>clually  and  with  as 
much  good  discretion  as  I  can.  Wlinvin  if  ynu  aid  me 
with  vour  direction,  I  shall  observe  it.  This  as  I  did 
ever  acc(mnt  it  sure  and  certain  to  be.  accomplished  in 
case  myself  lia.l  be.-n  placed,  and  tii.-rrfon^  ,lc-ferred  it 
till  then  as  to  tli<;  i)r(.i)er  opportimity  ;  so  now  that  I  see 
Buch  delay  in  mine  own  placing,  I  wish  exanimo  it  should 
not  expect. 

1  IJinh  undiTstooil  "My  Lord  "  to  mean  Msscx,  and  put  tlie  name  in  the  mar- 
gin.    I  ratlier  siispccl  thai  Biirghlfiy  is  meant. 


1594-95.]        TALKS  OF  GOING  ABROAD.  161 

I  pray  let  me  know  wluit  mine  uncle  Killigrew  will  do.  ^ 
For  I  must  now  be  more  careful  of  my  credit  than  ever, 
since  I  receive  so  little  thence  where  I  deserved  best. 
And  to  be  plain  with  you,  I  mean  even  to  make  the  best 
of  those  small  things  I  have  with  as  much  expedition  as 
may  be  without  loss  ;  and  so  sing  a  mass  of  requiem  I 
hope  abroad  ;  for  I  know  her  Majesty's  nature,  that  she 
neither  careth  though  the  whole  surname  of  the  Bacons 
travelled,  nor  of  the  Cecils  neither. 

I  have  here  an  idle  pen  or  two,  specially  one  that  was 
cozened,  thinking  to  have  gotten  some  monej^  this  term  ; 
I  pray  send  me  somewhat  else  for  them  to  write  out  be- 
sides your  Irish  collection,  which  is  almost  done.  There 
is  a  collection  of  Dr.  James  of  foreign  states,  largeliest 
of  Flanders,  which,  though  it  be  no  great  matter,  yet  I 
would  be  glad  to  have  it.  Thus  I  commend  you  to 
God's  good  preservation.  From  my  lodge  at  Twicken- 
ham Park,  this  25th  of  January,  1594. 

Your  entire  loving  brother,  Fe.  Bacon. 

LETTER   TO   SIR   R.    CECIL,  ENCLOSED   IN   THE   LAST. 

Sir,  —  Your  Honor  may  remember  that  upon  your 
relation  of  her  Majesty's  speech  touching  my  travel,  I 
asked  leave  to  make  answer  in  writing;  not  but  ^  I  knew 
then  what  was  true  ;  but  because  I  was  careful  to  express 
it  without  doing  myself  wrong.  And  it  is  true  I  had 
then  opinion  to  have  written  to  her  Majesty.  But  since, 
weighing  with  myself  that  her  Majesty  gave  no  ear  to 
the  motion  made  by  yourself  that  I  might  answer  it  by 
mine  own  attendance,  I  began  to  doubt  the  second  degree, 
whether  it  might  not  be  taken  for  presumption  in  me  to 
write  to  her  ]\Iajesty  ;  and  so  resolved  that  it  was  best 
for  me  to  follow  her  Majesty's  own  way  in  committing  it 
to  your  report. 

1  Relating  to  the  borrowing  of  money. 

2  But  because  in  MS.;  no  doubt  the  transcriber's  error. 


162  LETTER  TO  CECIL.  [Book  L 

It  may  please  yonv  Honor  therefore  to  deliver  to  her 
Majesty,  first,  that  it  is  an  exceeding  grief  to  me  that 
any,  not  motion  (for  there  was  not  now  a  motion),  but 
mention  that  should  come  from  me  should  offend  her 
Majesty,  whom  for  these  one-and-twenty  years  (for  so 
long  it  isi  that  I  kissed  her  Majesty's  hands  upon  my 
journey  into  France)  I  have  used  the  best  of  my  wits  to 

please. 

Next,  mine  answer  standing  upon  two  points,  the  one, 
that  this  mention  of  travel  to  my  Lord  of  Essex  was  no 
present  motion,  suit,  or  request ;  but  casting  the  worst  of 
my  fortune  with  an  honorable  friend  that  had  long  used 
me  privately,  I  told  his  Lordship  of  this  purpose  of  mine 
to  travel,  accompanying  it  with  tliese  very  words,  that 
upon  her  Majesty's  rejecting  me  with  such  circumstance, 
though  my  heart  might  be  good  yet  mine  eyes  would  be 
sore  that  I  should  take  no  pleasure  to  look  upon  my 
friends  ;  for  that  I  was  not  an  impudent  man,  that  could 
face  out  a  disgrace  ;  and  that  I  hoped  her  Majesty  would 
not  be  offended,  if  not  being  able  to  endure  the  sun,  I 
fled  into  the  shade. 

The  other,  that  it  was  more  than  this  ;  for  I  did  ex- 
pressly and  particularly  (for  so  much  wit  God  then  lent 
me)  by  way  of  caveat  restrain  my  Lord's  good  affection 
that  he  should  in  no  wise  utter  or  mention  this  matter 
till  her  Majesty  had  made  a  Solicitor  ;  wherewith  (now 
since  my  looking  upon  your  letter)  I  did  in  a  dutiful 
manner  challenge  my  Lord,  who  very  honorably  acknowl- 
edged [it], 2  s(;eing  he  did  it  for  the  best ;  and  therefore 
I  h-iive  his  Lordship  to  answer  for  himself. 

All  this  my  Lord  of  Essex  can  testify  to  be  true  ;  and 
I  report  m(^  to  yourself,  whether  at  the  first,  when  I  de- 
sired deliberation  to  answer,  yet  nevertheless  said  I  would 

1  A  mistake.  "Sir  Amice  raul.it  ImimU-I  at  Calai.s,  going  to  be  amba.-^sador 
in  France  in  place  of  Dr.  Dnl.-.  l.-itl.  S.pt.-n.ber.  1570."  See  lUirghiey's  D.ary. 
It  wan  not  Ro  much  as  eighteen  years  and  a  half. 

2  This  word  is  torn  off.     The  next  is  probably  miscopied,  and  should  be  layinff. 


1594-95.]  SOLICITORSHIP  STILL  VACANT.  163 

to  you  privately  declare  what  had  passed,  I  said  not  in 
effect  so  much.  The  couclusiou  shall  be,  that  whereso- 
ever God  and  her  Majesty  shall  appoint  me  to  live,  I 
shall  truly  pray  for  her  Majesty's  preservation  and  feli- 
city. And  so  I  humbly  commend  me  to  you. 
Your  poor  kinsman  to  do  you  service, 

Fe.  Bacon. 

Bacon  was  not  yet  to  be  released.  He  could  not  have 
gone  abroad  without  a  license  from  the  Queen,  and  as 
things  stood  he  could  not  well  have  applied  for  one  ;  cer- 
tainly would  not  have  got  it  except  at  the  cost  of  seri- 
ously displeasing  her.  He  travelled  no  further  than  his 
favorite  retreat  at  Twickenham,  which  appears  however 
to  have  been  enough  for  his  health  of  mind  and  body ; 
for  on  the  7th  of  March  his  brother  reports  to  Lady  Ba- 
con that  he  "  has  not  seen  him  looking  better."  But  the 
Solicitorship  not  having  been  filled  up  during  the  term, 
and  Essex  being  still  determined  that  he  should  have  it, 
the  canvassing  time  was  not  over  yet.  As  Easter  Term 
approached,  preparations  were  to  be  made  for  another 
fight  among  the  rival  patrons,  and  Bacon  had  to  reappear 
in  the  old  part,  of  which  how  weary  he  was  all  his  letters 
written  at  that  time  might  be  cited  to  prove. 

But  he  writes  to  Burghley  under  a  feeling  of  ceremoni- 
ous restraint,  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  in  an  outbreak  of  impa- 
tience, to  his  brother  as  to  one  who  already  knew  all  he 
felt,  and  shared  all  his  feelings.  It  is  interesting  there- 
fore to  know  how  he  expresses  himself  to  a  familiar  but 
not  very  intimate  friend.  The  following  letter  to  Foulke 
Greville  belongs  apparently  to  this  spring,  and  represents 
bis  condition  in  a  very  lively  and  natural  manner. 

TO   FOULKE   GREVILLE. 

Sir,  —  I  understand  of  your  pains  to  have  visited  me, 
for  which  I  thank  you.  My  matter  is  an  endless  ques- 
tion.    I  assure  you  I  had  said  Requiesce  anima  mea:  but 


;(^g4  THE  CHILD   AND  THE  BIRD.  [Book  I. 

I  now  am  otherwise  put  to  my  psalter  :   NoliU  confidere. 
I  dare  go  no  further.     Her  Majesty  had  by  set  speech 
more  than  once  assured  me  of  her  intention  to  call  me  to 
her  service ;  which  I   could  not   understand  but  of  the 
place  I  had  been  named  to.     And  now  whether  invidm 
homo  hoe  fecit ;  or  whether  my  matter  must  be  an  appen- 
dix to  my  Lord  of  Essex  suit ;  or  whether  her  Majesty, 
pretending  to  prove  my  ability,  meaneth  but  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  some  errors  which,  like  enough,  at  one  time  or 
other  I  may  commit ;  or  what  it  is ;  but  her  Majesty  is 
not  ready  to  dispatch  it.     And  what  though  the  Master 
of  the  Rolls,  and  my  Lord  of  Essex,  and  yourself,  and 
others,  think  my  case  without  doubt,  yet  in  the  mean 
time  I  have  a  hard  condition,  to  stand  so  that  whatsoever 
service  I  do  to  her  Majesty,  it  shall  be  thought  to  be  but 
servitium  viscatum,  lime-twigs  and  fetches  to  place  my- 
self; and  so  I  shall  have  envy,  not  thanks.     This  is  a 
course  to  quench  all  good  spirits,  and  to  corrupt  every 
man's  nature  ;  which  will,  I  fear,  much  hurt  her  Maj- 
esty's service  in  the  end.     I  have  been  like  a  piece  of 
stuff  bespoken  in  the  shop;  and  if  her  Majesty  will  not 
take  ine,  it  may  be  the  selling  by  parcels  will  be  more 
gainful.      For  to  be,  as  I  told  yon,  like  a  child  following 
a  bird,  which  when  he  is  nearest  flh'tli  away  and  lighteth 
a  little  iM'fo.v,  an.l  thm  th-  child  after  it  again,  and  so 
in  infinitum,  I  am  weary  of  it;  as  also  of  wearying  my 
good'friends;  of  whom,  nevertheless,  I  hope  in  one  course 
or  other  gratefully  t.)  dcs.M-ve.     An<l  so,  not  forg..,tting 
your  business,  1  leave  to  trouble  you  with  this  idle  letter, 
being  but  jmta  et  moderata  qnerimonia  :  for  in.leed  I  do 
confess,  priinus  amor  will  not  easily  be  east  off.     And 
thus  again  I  c(uniiicnd  ine  to  you. 

Towards  the  end  of  May,  1  "•*•'">,  h.'  Ihought  the  chase 
was  at  end  ;  retired  to  Twh-k.-nhain  with  the  feeling  of  a 
man  ''  enlarged  from  some  restraint ;  "  and  wrote  a  short 


1594-05.]     THE  OLD  OFFENSE  AND  THE  OLD  EXCUSE.  165 

letter  to  Lord  Keeper  Puckering  which  his  Lordship 
docketed  "  Mr.  Fr.  Bacon,  his  contentation  to  leave  the 
Solicitorship."  But  Easter  Term  ended  as  it  began,  the 
place  benig  still  unsupplied,  and  the  Queen's  mind  ap- 
parently not  made  up  either  way.  Burghley  had  been 
ill  and  had  to  keep  his  house  ;  confined,  I  suppose,  by 
one  of  his  frequent  attacks  of  gout ;  and  she  had  been 
to  \nsit  him  there,  probably  to  consult  him  about  the  ap- 
pointment. He  mentioned  Bacon.  In  the  conversation 
which  ensued  it  came  out  that  his  old  offense  in  the  affair 
of  the  money-bill  in  1592-93,  was  still  uppermost  in  her 
mind.  And  I  suppose  that  this  was  after  all  the  real 
impediment  which  stood  in  his  way.  It  cannot  be  denied 
indeed  (as  I  said  before)  that  if  she  had  reason  to  resent 
his  conduct  in  that  matter  at  all,  she  had  reason  to  perse- 
vere in  resenting  it.  For  certainly  he  had  neither  said 
nor  done  anything  to  atone  for  it,  or  to  imply  that  in  a 
similar  case  he  would  not  do  the  same  again.  If  an  of- 
fense at  all,  it  was  an  offense  not  yet  repented  of.  And 
I  can  well  imagine  that  Elizabeth,  though  she  would 
otherwise  have  been  glad  to  promote  him,  and  was  in  fact 
glad  to  employ  him,  had  said  to  herself  that  until  he 
showed  a  proper  sense  of  the  offense  he  had  committed, 
he  should  not  be  an  officer  of  hers.  It  does  not  appear, 
however,  that  she  had  yet  held  out  hopes  to  any  one  else; 
and  it  may  be  that  when  she  reminded  Burghley  of  the 
old  grievance,  she  meant  it  for  a  hint  that  there  was  still 
a  locus  poenitentice,  and  that  the  penitence  had  still  to  be 
exhibited.  Burghley,  it  seems,  told  Bacon  where  the 
obstruction  lay.  But  on  that  point  he  had  already  given 
the  only  explanation  he  had  to  give,  and  could  only  re- 
peat in  substance  what  he  had  said  two  years  before. 

How  she  took  it  we  do  not  know,  but  she  employed 
him  the  next  term  on  Star-Chamber  business,  and  it  was 
not  till  near  the  middle  of  October  that  she  tinally  re- 
solved the  place  to  another.     In  what  spirit  Bacon  ac- 


166  SUIT  FINALLY  REJECTED.  [Booic  I. 

cepted  the  decision  we  learn  from  the  following  letter  to 
the  Lord  Keeper  :  — 

It  may  please  your  good  Lokdship, 
I  conceive  the  end  already  made,  which  will  I  trust  be 
to  me  a  beginning  of  good  fortune,  or  at  least  of  content. 
Her  Majesty  by  God's  grace  shall  live  and  reign  long. 
She  is  not  running  away,  I  may  trust  her.  Or  whether 
she  look  towards  me  or  no,  I  remain  the  same,  not  altered 
in  my  intention.  If  I  had  been  an  ambitious  man,  it 
would  have  overthrown  me.  But  minded  as  I  am,  re- 
vertet  henedictio  mea  in  sinum  meum.  If  I  had  made  any 
reckoning  of  anything  to  be  stirred,  I  would  have  waited 
on  your  Lordship,  and  will  be  at  any  time  ready  to  wait 
on  you  to  do  you  service.  So  I  commend  your  good 
Lordship  to  God's  holy  preservation.  From  Twicknam 
Park,  this  14th  of  October. 

Your  Lordship's  most  humble 

at  your  hon.  commandments, 

Fr.  Bacon. 

At  last  then  the  chase  was  really  at  an  end.  The 
Queen  had  finally  resolved  that  Bacon  should  not  be  her 
Solicitor  General,  and  on  the  5th  of  November  following, 
Serjeant  Fleming  received  the  patent  of  the  office.  It 
does  not  appear  however  that  the  resolution  was  brought 
on  by  any  new  offense  given  either  by  Bacon  or  Essex, 
or  by  any  fresh  distaste  conceived  by  tlie  Queen.  Rather, 
I  think,  it  was  tlu-  end  of  tliat  long  displeasure.  In  the 
beginning  of  March,  l.VJ2-');i,  lie  iiad  done  a  thing  which 
Elizabeth  did  not  choose  persons  in  her  service  to  do.  As 
a  member  of  the  IIous(^  of  Commons  representing  Mid- 
dlesex, he  had  taken  a  leading  part  in  a  movement  which 
was  certainly  op|)OH('d  to  tin;  wishes  of  the  Government 
an<l  (Mi(le<l  (if  my  interpretation  of  the  proceedings  be 
correct)  in  the  defeat  of  a  i)roject  for  getting  rid  of  one 
of  the  most  important  jjrivileges  of  th(;  Lower  House, — 


1594^95.]  END   OF  THE  QUEEN'S   DISPLEASURE.  167 

most  important  to  them  and  by  consequence  most  incon- 
venient in  many  cases  to  the  Crown.  He  was  a  young 
man,  however,  of  unquestioned  and  most  affectionate 
loyalty,  attached  to  the  Crown  by  all  ties  both  of  inter- 
est and  feeling  ;  and  he  might  see  his  error  and  make 
amends.  Reward  and  punishment  lay  before  him  month 
after  month,  and  year  after  year,  and  he  was  still  free  to 
choose.  The  Attorney  Generalship  was  kept  vacant  for 
a  year ;  during  which  it  was  twice  at  least  intimated  to 
him,  that  his  conduct  in  Parliament  was  the  thing  which 
stood  most  in  his  way.  When  the  Attorney  Generalship 
was  filled  up,  the  Solicit orship  was  kept  vacant  for  a  year 
and  a  half,  during  which  the  same  intimation  was  once 
at  least  conveyed  to  him.  But  all  this  time  he  had  shown 
no  symptom  of  repentance,  —  no  consciousness  even  of 
having  done  anything  wrong.  In  April,  1593,  all  he 
had  to  say  was  that  he  had  said  nothing  but  what  he 
thought  it  his  duty  to  say  ;  and  in  June,  1595,  he  had 
nothing  to  add  in  the  way  of  excuse,  except  that  the 
points  in  which  he  had  opposed  the  Government  prop- 
osition were  only  "  circumstances  of  time  and  manner," 
and  that  "  variety  is  allowed  in  counsel  as  a  discord  in 
music,  to  make  it  more  perfect."  Upon  this  point  then  it 
seemed  that  he  was  incorrigible  ;  he  could  not  see,  or 
would  not  own,  his  fault ;  and  he  must  take  the  conse- 
quences. But  Elizabeth,  though  she  could  not  bring  her- 
self to  pardon  such  an  offense,  was  not  the  less  likely  to 
feel  respect  for  such  an  offender.  And  it  seems  that  she 
was  willing  to  let  the  final  rejection  of  his  suit  for  the 
Solicitorship  pass  for  a  full  quittance,  and  allow  the  cloud 
which  had  so  long  hung  upon  her  countenance  to  clear 
away. 

To  the  Earl  of  Essex  the  decision  was  in  every  way  a 
mortification.  He  felt  his  friend's  disappointment  as  his 
own  ;  his  whole  credit  for  influence  at  Court  had  boon 
notoriously  staked  upon  success  in  this  suit ;  and  such  a 


168  DISAPPOINTMENT  OF   ESSEX.  [Book  I. 

friend  in  such  an  office  would  have  been  a  material  sup- 
port to  liiin  ;  so  that  it  was  a  real  loss  to  him  in  all  re- 
spects.   And  if  he  was  not  yet  convinced  that  his  method 
of  dealing  with  the  Queen  was  unwise,  he  must  at  least 
have  felt  keenly  that  it  had  been  in  this  case  unlucky, 
and  that  Bacon  had  always  disapproved  of  it,  and  warned 
him  what  it  would  come  to.     So  deeply  indebted  as  the 
Bacons  were  to  him  for  his  endeavors  in  this  matter,  they 
could  not  of  course  criticize  the  manner  of  them :  but  we 
know  that  in  the  management  of  his  own  affairs  it  was 
a  point  on  which  he  and  Bacon  always  "  directly  and  con- 
tradictorily differed ;  "  and  when  Lady  Bacon  said  that 
"  though  the  Earl  showed  great  affection  yet  he  marred 
all  with  violent  courses,"  there  can  be  little  doubt  now 
that  she   made   a  true  judgment.      In    the   account   be- 
tween him  and  Bacon  the  obligation  was  not  all  on  one 
side.     Bacon  owed  him  much  for  his   friendship,  trust, 
and    eager  endeavors    to    serve   him.     He    owed   Bacon 
much  not  only  for  affection  and  zeal,  but  for  time  and 
pains  gratuitously  spent   in   his  affairs.     These   he  had 
done  his  best  to  requite  in  the  best  way,  namely,  by  ad- 
vancing him  in  his  profession ;  but  having  failed,  he  (not 
unnaturally)  desired  to  make  him  some  reparation.    And 
this  he  accordingly  did  with  characteristic  ardor  and  gen- 
erosity.    Of  the  particulars  of  the  transaction,  and  indeed 
of  the  transaction  itself,  our  only  information  is  derived 
from  Pnu-on's  own  narrative,  published  nine  years  after. 
And  as  subscipient  events  give  it  a  peculiar  importance, 
I  shall  quob;  at  length  all  that  relates  to  it. 

"  After  th(!  (^iieen  had  denied  me  the  Solicitor's  place, 
for  the  which  his  Lor.lship  h:id  been  a  lf)ng  and  earnest 
suitor  on  my  hehalf,  it  i)leased  him  to.  come  to  me  from 
Richmond  to  Twiricnam  I'ark,  and  brake  with  me,  and 
said,  'Master  Bacon,  the  Queen  hiith  denh'd  me  yon 
place  for  you,  and  hiith  placed  anoth<M-;  I  know  you  are 
the  least  part  of  your  own  matter,  but  you  fare  ill  be- 


1594-95.]  HIS  MUNIFICENCE  TOWARDS  BACON.  169 

cause  you  have  chosen  rae  for  your  mean  and  depend- 
ence ;  you  have  spent  your  time  and  thoughts  in  my 
matters  :  I  die  (these  were  his  very  words)  if  I  do  not 
somewhat  towards  your  fortune :  you  shall  not  deny  to 
accept  a  piece  of  land  which  I  will  bestow  upon  you.' 
My  answer  I  remember  was,  that  for  my  fortune  it  was 
no  great  matter,  but  that  his  Lordship's  offer  made  me 
to  call  to  mind  what  was  wont  to  be  said  when  I  was  in 
France  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  that  he  was  the  greatest 
usurer  in  France,  because  lie  had  turned  all  his  estate 
into  obligations ;  meaning  that  he  had  left  himself  noth- 
ing, but  only  had  bound  numbers  of  persons  to  him. 
'Now,  my  Lord,'  said  I,  'I  would  not  have  you  imitate 
his  course,  nor  turn  your  state  thus  by  great  gifts  into 
obligations,  for  you  will  find  many  bad  debtors.'  He 
bade  me  take  no  care  for  that,  and  pressed  it:  where- 
upon I  said,  '  My  Lord,  I  see  I  must  be  your  homager 
and  hold  land  of  your  gift:  but  do  you  know  the  manner 
of  doinjy  homasre  in  law  ?  Always  it  is  with  a  savins:  of 
his  faith  to  the  king  and  his  other  lords:  and  therefore, 
ray  Lord  '  (said  I),  '  I  can  be  no  more  yours  than  I  was, 
and  it  must  be  with  the  ancient  savings  :  and  if  I  grow 
to  be  a  rich  man,  you  will  give  me  leave  to  give  it  back 
to  some  of  your  unrewarded  followers.'  " 

The  end  was  that  the  Earl  "  enfeoffed  "  Bacon  "  of 
land,"  which  he  afterwards  "sold  for  XI, 800,  and  thought 
was  more  worth."  The  land  in  question  is  said  (prob- 
ably enough,  though  on  no  better  authority,  so  far  as  I 
know,  than  Bushell,  upon  whose  authority  I  do  not  mj^- 
self  believe  anything)  to  have  been  in  Twickenham  Park, 
a  piece,  perhaps,  adjoining  Bacon's  lodge  there.  It  was 
certainly  at  this  time  that  he  received  from  the  Crown 
a  lease  of  certain  lands  at  Twickenham,  for  twenty-one 
years,  dating  from  Michaelmas,  1624,  upon  the  same 
terms  on  which  they  had  formerly  been  held  by  Edward 
Bacon,  and  were  then  held  by  one  Milo  Dodding ;  viz.  a 


170  BACON  AND   THE  QUEEN.  [Book  I 

rent  of  twelve  guineas  a  year.  It  was  granted,  however, 
in  consideration  of  the  services  and  at  the  suit  of  one 
Ralph  Fletcher  —  "  unum  Valett'  de  le  Vestrie  in  Hos- 
pitio  nostro  "  —  of  whose  relations  with  Bacon  and  in- 
terest in  the  matter  we  know  nothing  ;  and  probably 
formed  part  of  a  transaction  of  which  the  history  has  not 
been  preserved.  The  grant  of  the  reversion  of  the  lease 
is  dated  the  17th  of  November,  1595  ;  ^  and,  however  he 
came  by  it,  was  a  tiling  of  value,  upon  the  security  of 
which  money  could  be  rais'ed.  In  the  mean  time  the 
transfer  of  the  lease  to  a  stranger  did  not  interfere  with 
his  occupation,  for  he  continued  to  reside  at  Twickenham 
Park  as  before. 

As  I  find  that  the  Court  was  at  Richmond  from  the 
20th  of  October,  1595,  to  the  5th  of  November,  or  there- 
abouts, I  suppose  this  conversation  took  place  within  that 
period  :  perhaps  after  the  Queen's  resolution  had  been 
taken,  and  before  the  place  had  been  actually  given  to 
Fleming.  The  next  letter,  which  comes  from  Rawley's 
supplementary  collection  and  has  no  date,  may  have  been 
written  a  few  days  after,  when  everything  was  settled  ; 
and  the  last  sentence  may  have  reference  to  the  munif- 
icent present  for  which  Bacon  had  already  made  his  ac- 
knowledgments in  the  manner  above  reported. 

TO   MY   LORD   OF   ESSEX. 

It  may  please  your  good  Lordship,—  I  ])ray  God 

her  MajcHty's  wcigliiiig  b(^  not  lik(*  tin;  weight  of  a  bal- 
anc(!  ;  graoia  dcm-mm,  levia  fiursnvi.  I'lit  I  am  :is  far 
from  being  altered  in  devotion  towards  lier,  ms  I  am  from 
disti-ust  that  sli«'  will  be  altered  in  opinion  lo\v;ii-ds  me, 
wlien  she.  knoweth  me  heller.  V'>y  iiiyself,  I  hnve  lost 
.some  opinion,  some  liiin',  and  some  ineiiiis;  Ihis  is  my 
jiccoiiiit  :  hill  iheii  for  upinidii,  it  is  a,  lilnsl  ihal  e()cth 
:iiid  <'()iiiftli  ;  h'l-  lime,  it,  is  true  it  goelh  and  cornel  h  not  ; 
but  yet  1  iiavi'  h'arue(l  that  it  may  he  recleemed. 
»  See  a  copy  (if  llir  pal.  nt  in  l)i.\i.ir«  I'ciwmnl  lllMory  i>f  L«rd  H<ic„n,  p.  -W.). 


1594-95.]  BACON'S  CAUTION  TO  ESSEX.  171 

For  means,  I  value  that  most ;  and  the  rather,  because 
I  am  purposed  not  to  follow  the  practice  of  the  law  :  (If 
her  Majesty  command  me  in  any  particular,  I  shall  be 
ready  to  do  her  willing  service  :)  and  my  reason  is  only, 
because  it  drinketh  too  much  time,  which  I  have  dedi- 
cated to  better  purposes.  But  even  for  that  point  (»f 
estate  and  means,  I  partly  lean  to  Tliales'  opinion.  That 
a  philosopher  may  be  rich  if  he  will.  Thus  your  Lord- 
ship seeth  how  I  comfort  myself;  to  the  increase  whereof 
I  would  fain  please  myself  to  believe  that  to  be  true 
which  my  Lord  Treasurer  writeth  ;  which  is,  that  it  is 
more  than  a  philosopher  morally  can  digest.  But  with- 
out any  such  high  conceit,  I  esteem  it  like  the  pulling 
out  of  an  aching  tooth,  which,  I  remember,  when  I  was 
a  child  and  had  little  philosophy,  I  was  glad  of  when  it 
was  done.  For  your  Lordship,  I  do  think  myself  more 
beholding  to  you  than  to  any  man.  And  I  say,  I  reckon 
myself  as  a  common  (not  popular,  but  common)  ;  and  as 
much  as  is  lawful  to  be  enclosed  of  a  common,  so  much 
your  Lordship  shall  be  sure  to  have. 

Your  Lordship's,  to  obey  your  honorable  commands, 
more  settled  than  ever. 

The  remarkable  sentence  with  which  this  letter  con- 
cludes, I  cannot  understand  otherwise  than  as  a  warning, 
similar  to  that  with  which  the  conversation  at  Twicken- 
ham concluded,  and  suggested  b}^  some  apprehension  that 
Essex  might  misunderstand  the  nature  of  the  relation  be- 
tween them,  and  expect  from  Bacon  a  devotion  incom- 
patible with  his  devotion  to  the  State,  which  had  the  first 
claim  upon  him.  "  I  can  be  no  more  yours  than  I  was : 
it  must  be  with  the  ancient  savings  —  that  is,  of  faith  to 
the  king  and  his  other  lords."  I  am  but  "  as  a  common;  " 
you  can  have  for  your  own  share  only  "  so  much  as  is 
lawful  to  be  enclosed  :  "  that  is,  I  can  only  offer  you  sucli 
services  as  can  be  lawfully  rendered  by  one  whose  ch'.ef 


112  ESSEX  AND  THE  QUEEN.  [Book  I. 

service  is  due  to  the  State.     It  is  true  that  Essex  was 
still  a  loyal  subject,  aud  that  all  the  objects  of  his  per- 
sonal ambition  lay  as  yet  within  the  limits  of   patriotism 
and  duty.     But  he  had  already  engaged  deeply  in  a  game 
very  dangerous  to  pUiy  at  with  such  a    nature    as    the 
Queen's.     The  history  of  his  relation  with  the  Court  is 
a  history  of    quarrels    and    reconcihations,  provocations 
given  and  forgiven,  the  liberties  of  a  spoiled  child  with 
a  mother,  whose  affection  though  mortified  and  irritated 
cannot  afford  to  sacrifice  him  ;  each  victory  emboldening 
him  to  repeat  the  same  experiment,  without  Tionsidering 
that    patience  has  its  limits,    and  that  every  successive 
strain  put  upon  the  affection  leaves  it  less  able  to  endure 
another.     It  was  a  point  in  which    Bacon    had    always 
thought  Essex  in  the  wrong,  and  told  him  what  would 
come   of  it.     But  though    he   listened,  he  was   not  con- 
vinced ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  Bacon  had  already  begun 
to  fear  that  these  repeated  trials  of  the  Queen's  affection 
(there  being,  I  fancy,  not  much  real  affection  on  Essex's 
part  to  temper  provocations  on  his  side)   might  end  at 
last  in  some  fatal  alienation.     1  do  not  doubt  that  Essex's 
benefaction  looked  to  the  past  and  not  to  the  future,  and 
was  bestowed  out  of  the  fiank  generosity  of  a  nature  m 
that  respect  truly  noble,  without  any  thought  of  condi- 
tions or  requitals.      But  it  was  not  the  less  desirable  to 
remind  him  that  he   was   dealing  with  one  whose  duty 
was    preengaged,    and    who    could   have    nothing    to   do 
with  anv  factious  dependence.     And  such  a  warning  was 
naturally  suggested  by  the  condition  of  the  times,  which 
were  full  of  serious  alarms.      At  that  v(>ry  time  the  news 
l-,.,„i  livl;,inl    was   V(M-v  hi.'l,  and  great  offensive  prepara- 
tions were   known  to  be  malting  by  Spain,   which  it  was 
thought  minhl  issue  in  another  Armada  this  very  autumn. 

F,?,-  the  present,  howev.r,  llir  .lllbTences  which  ha<l 
been  l,etw.ten  lOssev  an.l  the  C^u.-en,  au.l  which  had  lately 
looked  very  serious,  cleared  suddenly  away,  leaving  fairer 


1594-95.]  RESTORATION   OF  GOOD   FEELING.  17o 

weather  than  ever.  A  book  on  the  forbidden  subject  of 
the  succession  had  appeared  in  Holland,  with  a  dedication 
to  Essex  as  the  man  who,  in  respect  of  "  nobility,  call- 
ing, favor  with  his  prince,  and  high  liking  of  the  peo- 
ple," was  likely  to  have  most  sw^ay  in  deciding  this  great 
affair,  etc.  This  book  came  into  the  Queen's  hands,  who 
showed  it  to  Essex  (3d  November)  in  a  manner  which 
greatly  disturbed  him,  and  they  say  made  him  fall  really 
ill.  But  the  Queen  coming  to  visit  him,  and  being  satis- 
fied I  suppose,  that  he  had  had  nothing  to  do  with  it, 
made  all  fair  again.  And  on  the  12th  of  November  the 
Court  news  was  that  "  my  Lord  of  Essex  had  put  ofi  the 
melancholy  he  fell  into  by  a  printed  book  delivered  to 
the  Queen  ;  wherein  the  harm  was  meant  him,  by  her 
Majesty's  gracious  favor  and  wisdom  is  turned  to  his 
good,  and  strengthens  her  love  unto  him  ;  for  I  hear  that 
within  these  four  days  many  letters  sent  to  herself  from 
foreign  countries  were  delivered  only  to  my  Lord  of 
Essex,  and  he  to  answer  them."  And  a  few  days  after 
we  find  him  adorning  the  triumphs  of  the  Queen's  day 
with  a  "  device  "  in  which  Bacon  had  a  principal  hand. 
These  triumphs  may  be  regarded  as  the  conclusion  of 
the  long  controversy  —  the  celebration  of  the  reinstate- 
ment of  Essex  in  the  Queen's  full  favor,  and  the  expres- 
sion of  Bacon's  unshaken  devotion  to  her  service,  disap- 
pointments and  discouragements  notwithstanding,  and  of 
his  earnest  desire  to  keep  those  two  spirits  in  tune  with 
each  other.  For  himself,  he  is  free  at  last  from  the  ser- 
ritude  of  suitorship,  though  not  released  from  court  ser- 
vice, and  otherwise  much  as  he  was ;  except  that  the 
piece  of  land  which  Essex  has  given  him  (very  soon,  I 
fancy,  to  be  mortgaged  for  the  best  part  of  its  value)  will 
enable  him  to  raise  money  enough  to  satisfy  for  awhile 
those  creditors,  whose  increasing  and  I  will  not  say  un- 
reasonabU^  importunity  was  not  the  least  among  the  anx- 
ieties which  beset  him. 


BOOK  11. 

— « — 

CHAPTER  I. 

A.  D.  1595-1597.     .gsTAT.  35-37. 

So  enormous  were  the  results  which  Bacon  anticipated 
from  such  a  renovation  of  Philosoph}^  as  he  had  conceived 
the  possibihty  of,  that  the  rehictance  which  he  felt  to 
devote  his  life  to  the  ordinary  practice  of  a  lawyer  can- 
not be  wondered  at.  But  it  is  easier  to  understand  why 
he  was  resolved  not  to  do  that,  than  what  other  plan  he 
had  to  clear  himself  of  the  difficulties  Avliich  were  accumu- 
lating upon  him,  and  to  obtain  means  of  living  and  work- 
ing. A  few  years  after  (while  he  was  still  without  any 
official  place)  I  find  him  expressing  a  wish  to  "  increase 
his  practice,"  in  the  hope  of  making  a  fortune  sufiicient 
to  retire  upon  ;  and  I  suppose  he  had  found  on  trial  that 
to  give  up  tlie  ''ordinary  ])ractice  oi  the  law  "  was  a  hix- 
ury  he  could  not  afford.  What  course  he  betook  himst'lf 
to  at  the  crisis  at  which  we  have  now  arrived,  I  cannot 
j)ositiv('ly  say.  I  do  not  find  any  letter  of  liis,  which  can 
be  probably  assigned  to  the  winter  of  1595,  nor  have  I 
met  among  liis  l)rother's  papers  with  anything  wliich  in- 
dicates what  he  was  about ;  more  than  a  few  notes  rchit- 
ing  to  the  satisfaction  (or  more  geiu-rally  the  dissatisfac- 
tion) of  creditors.  I  presume,  howmMM",  that  lie  betook 
himself  to  liis  studies.  One  of  tin;  loose  sheets  wliicli  1 
have  printed  under  the  tith^  of  "  Fornndaries  and  Ele- 
gancies'"^ is  d;ited  January  27,  1595.     About  a  twelve- 

1   C'ompkle   Wnrh,  vol.  vii.,  p.  208. 


1595-97.]         PROJECTED  ATTACK  ON  SPAIN.        175 

month  after,  he  printed  the  little  volume  containing 
the  Essays  in  their  first  shape,  the  "  Colors  of  Good 
and  Evil,"  and  the  "  Meditationes  Sacrge."  The  dedi- 
catory letter  to  the  "  Maxims  of  the  Law"  is  dated  Jan- 
uary, 1596,  and  several  of  the  opuscula,  which  were  ulti- 
mately either  incorporated  into  his  philosophical  works, 
or  laid  by  as  incomplete,  may  have  been  written  at  this 
period. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  1596  that  the  Earl  of  Essex 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  memorable  expedition  against 
Spain,  which  issued  in  the  taking  of  Cadiz  and  the  de- 
struction of  the  fleet  stationed  there  ;  a  leading  part  not 
only  in  the  action,  but  in  the  counsels  which  led  to  it. 
It  would  have  been  very  interesting  to  know  what  Bacon 
thought  of  that  enterprise  when  it  was  in  project.  But  I 
have  not  met  with  any  letter  or  other  writing  of  his  in 
which  his  opinion  is  stated :  except  so  much  of  it  as  may 
be  inferred  from  an  expression  in  a  letter  of  advice  ad- 
dressed to  Essex  some  months  after  it  was  over  ;  an  ex- 
pression which  seems  to  imply  that  he  had  been,  if  not 
against  the  expedition  itself,  at  least  against  the  course 
■which  Essex  had  taken  in  regard  to  it.     "•  And  here,  my 

Lord  "   (he  writes),   "  I   praj^  mistake  me  not I 

am  infinitely  glad  of  this  last  journe}^  )iow  it  is  past :  the 
rather  because  you  make  so  honorable  a  full  point  for  a 
time." 

The  project  of  an  attack  uj)on  the  coasts  and  fleet  of 
Spain  had  been  agitated  in  the  winter,  when  fears  were 
entertained  of  a  new  Spanish  invasion  ;  and  Burghley  is 
supposed  to  have  been  against  it.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  Bacon  shared  his  apprehensions  at  that  time  ;  and 
there  were  reasons,  no  doubt,  independent  of  the  policy 
of  the  expedition  itself,  for  the  friends  of  Essex  to  be 
anxious  as  to  the  result.  Thougli  he  had  qualities  which 
made  him  very  popular  as  a  leatler,  and  showed  a  gallant 
spirit  in  particular  actions,  I  cannot  think  that  he  was  a 


176  UNFITNESS   OF  ESSEX   TO  LEAD.  [Book  II 

fit  man  to  conduct  military  enterprises  on  a  large  scale. 
His  plans  and  hopes  were  large  and  his  self-confidence 
great,  and  where  these  meet  there  is  always  an  imposing 
tale  for  those  who  cannot  compare  the  means  with  the 
ends  ;  but  his  judgment  was  no  match  for  his  imagina- 
tion, and  his  strength  of   will  was   shown  rather  in  ovei'- 

rulino-  the  reasons  of  those  who  differed  from  him  than 

... 
in   patiently    examining  and   steadily   pursuing  his  own 

designs.  In  cases  where  his  propositions  were  overruled 
by  his  colleagues,  it  may  always  be  said  that  if  they  had 
been  adopted  they  would  have  succeeded  :  but  it  cannot 
be  aflfirmed  that  the  actions  in  which  he  had  the  sole  direc- 
tion were  the  most  successful,  or  most  deserved  success. 
It  would  even  seem  that  though  he  pulled  so  hard  against 
the  rein,  yet  wlieu  his  head  was  given  him  he  did  not  al- 
ways know  which  way  to  go.  Impatient  of  authority 
and  oppugnant  to  advice,  he  was  ill  fitted  to  act  either 
under  a  superior  or  with  colleagues.  Placed  so  early  in 
high  command,  he  had  had  no  schooling  in  his  ])rofession, 
—  he  had  never  been  obliged,  against  his  own  juilgment, 
to  follow  the  course  prescribed  by  matuver  experience, 
and  so  to  see  the  effect  fairly  tried  ;  nor  had  he  had  op- 
portunities enough  of  observing  the  consequences  of  his 
own  mistakes.  So  that  unless  nature  had  given  liim 
some  peculiar  genius  not  only  for  leading  soldiers,  but 
for  managing  the  movements  of  armies,  he  could  hardly 
be  considered  a  match  for  such  a  power  as  Spain  under 
su(;h  a  king  as  Philip  II. 

Tlu!  fleet  sailed  from  Plymouth  with  a  favorabli'  wind 
on  the  second  of  .hiiic,  arrived  at  Cadi/  on  the  201  h,  and 
on  the  lilsl  pcrlwniied  on(!  of  the  most  brilliant  day's 
works  that  was  evc^r  ace.omj)lishe<l.  '' 'I'his  journey" 
(Bacon  wrot<!  twenty  six  years  after)  "  was  like;  lightning. 
K.ii'  in  Ihr  space  (A'  fourlem  hours  the  King  of  Spain's 
iiuvy  was  destrove<l  and  the,  town  of  Cales  taken.  The 
navy  waH  no  less  than  fifty  tall  ships,  besides  twenty  gal- 


J595-97.]  SUCCESSFUL'  ATTACK.  177 

leys  to  attend  them.  The  ships  were  straightways  beaten, 
and  put  to  flight  with  such  terror  as  the  Spaniards  in  the 
end  were  their  own  executioners,  and  fired  them  all  with 
their  own  hands.  The  galleys,  by  the  benefit  of  the 
shores  and  shallows,  got  away.  The  town  was  a  fair, 
strong,  well-built,  and  rich  city  ;  famous  in  antiquity,  and 
now  most  spoken  of  for  this  disaster.  It  was  manned 
with  four  thousand  soldiers  on  foot,  and  some  four  hun- 
dred horse.  It  was  sacked  and  burned,  though  great 
clemency  was  used  towards  the  inhabitants.  But  that 
which  is  no  less  strange  than  the  sudden  victory,  is  the 
great  patience  of  the  Spaniards ;  who  though  we  stayed 
upon  the  place  divers  days,  yet  never  offered  us  any  play 
then,  nor  never  put  us  in  suit  by  any  action  of  revenge 
or  reparation  at  any  times  after."  ^ 

Essex  (to  whom  the  successful  assault  upon  the  town 
as  well  as  the  measures  taken  to  keep  order  and  protect 
inoffensive  persons  from  outrage  were  chiefly  due) 
was  urgent  to  follow  up  the  advantage  aiid  endeavor 
to  destroy  the  Indian  fleet,  then  on  its  way  homeward  ; 
but  his  colleagues  would  not  risk  it.  So  the  fleet  returned 
with  its  spoil  and  its  honor  ;  and  Essex  himself  with  an 
immense  increase  of  favor  with  the  people,  and  not  a  lit- 
tle of  discontent  with  the  Court.  There  seem  to  have 
been  many  charges  and  counter-charges  ;  and  much  dis- 
pute about  the  division  of  the  spoil,  as  well  as  who  was 
entitled  to  the  credit  of  what  had  been  done,  and  who 
to  blame  for  wliat  had  been  left  undone.  Essex  wrote 
some  papers  in  justification  of  his  own  views,  and  was  so 
little  satisfied  with  the  reception  of  his  service,  that  he 
appears  to  have  thought  of  keeping  aloof  from  Court  and 
Council,  as  he  had  so  often  done  before  on  similar  occa- 
sions. But  news  arriving  that  the  homewai'd-bound  In- 
dian fleet,  which  he  had  proposed  to  wait  for,  had  sailed 
safely  into  tlie  Tiigus  within  a  day  or  two  after  his  pro- 

1  Considerations  ioucliinr/  War  with  Spain,  162i. 
VOL.  I  12 


JY8  ESSEX'S  DISCONTENT.  [Book  II. 

posal  had  been  overruled  in  the  Council  of  War,  seemed 
to  show  that  the  rejection  of  his  advice  had  in  fact  been 
the  loss  of  a  great  prize  :  upon  which  his  opponents  were 
obliged  to  draw  in   their  horns,  and   at  the  date  of   the 
letter    which  comes  next  all  was    fair  weather  between 
him  and  the  Queen.     The  time  was  not  however  the  less 
critical  on  that  account,  with  a  man  who  had  so  strong  a 
love  for  glory  and  popularity,  and  so  little  patience  with 
those  who  crossed  him,  and  who  had  been  so  often  suc- 
cessful in  carrying  his  ends  by  the  open  expression  of 
discontent.     Enemies  at  Court  he  was   sure  to  make,  and 
the  favor  of  the  people  and  the  army  was  a  dangerous 
ally  to  meet  them  with,  when  the  decision  rested  with 
such  a  queen  as  EUzabeth.     It  was  at  this  juncture  that 
Bacon  wrote  him  a  letter  of  advice,  which,  though  of  the 
most  confidential  character,  and  one  which  cannot  have 
been  intended  for  strange  eyes,  has  been  by  some  accident 
preserved.     It  comes  from  the  supplementary  collection 
in  the  "  Resuseitatio,  "  and  therefore  with  Dr.  Rawley's 
sanction  as  to  genuineness;    and  we  could  hardly  have 
better  evidence  as  to  the  nature  of  Bacon's  relation  with 
Essex  at  this  time,  or  of  the  policy  which  he  wished  him 
to  pursue. 

TO    MY   LORD    OF   ESSEX,   FllOM   ^IR.    BACON. 

My  singular  good  Lord, —  I  will  no  longer  dis- 
sever part  of  that  wliich  I  meant  to  have  said  to  your 
Lordship  at  Barn-Ehus  from  tlie  exordium  which  I  then 
made.  Wh.-nM.iito  I  will  only  add  this:  thai  1  humbly 
desire  your  Loidship,  before  you  give  access  t<^  my  poor 
advice,  to  look  about,  even  jealously  a  little  if  you  will, 
and  to  consider,  first,  whether  I  hav  not  reason  to  think 
that  your  fortune  compivhendcth  mine.  Next,  whether 
I  shift  my  counsel,  and  do  not  comtare  mlhi  ;  for  I  am 
jjcrsuaded  there  are  som«^  \vould  give  you  the  same  coun- 
Bcl   now    which  I    .shall,   but    that    they  should   derogate 


1595-!)7.]  LETTER  OF  ADVICE  TO   ESSEX.  179 

from  that  which  they  have  said  heretofore.  Thirdly, 
whether  you  have  taken  hurt  at  any  time  by  my  careful 
and  devoted  counsel ;  for  although  I  remember  well  your 
Lordship  once  told  me  that,  you  having  submitted  upon 
my  well-meant  motion  at  Nonsuch  (the  place  where  you 
renewed  a  treaty  with  her  Majesty  of  obsequious  kind- 
ness), she  had  taken  advantage  of  it ;  yet  I  suppose  you 
do  since  believe  that  it  did  much  attemper  a  cold  malig- 
nant humor  then  growing  upon  her  Majesty  towards 
your  Lordship,  and  hath  done  you  good  in  consequence. 
And  for  mj^  being  against  it,  now  lately,  that  you  should 
not  estrange  yourself,  although  I  give  place  to  none  in 
true  gratulation,  yet  neither  do  I  repent  me  of  safe  coun- 
sel, neither  do  I  judge  of  the  whole  J)lay  by  the  first  act. 
But  whether  I  counsel  you  the  best,  or  for  the  best,  duty 
bindeth  me  to  offer  to  you  my  wishes.  I  said  to  your 
Lordship  last  time,  3Iartha,  Martha,  attendis  ad  plurima, 
unum  sufficit ;  win  the  Queen  :  if  this  be  not  the  begin- 
ning, of  any  other  course  I  see  no  end.  And  I  will  not 
now  speak  of  favor  of  affection,  but  of  other  correspond- 
ence and  agreeableness  ;  which,  whensoever  it  shall  be 
conjoined  with  the  other  of  affection,  I  durst  wager  my 
life,  (let  them  make  whut  prosopopoeias  they  will  of  her 
]\Iajesty's  nature,)  that  in  you  she  will  come  to  the  ques- 
tion of  Quidfiet  homini,  quern  rex  vidt  honorare  ?  But  how 
is  it  now  ?  A  man  of  a  nature  not  to  be  ruled  ;  that  hath 
the  advantage  of  my  affection,  and  knoweth  it ;  of  an  es- 
tate not  grounded  to  his  greatness  ;  of  a  popular  reputa- 
tion ;  of  a  military  dependence  :  I  demand  whether  there 
can  be  a  more  dangerous  image  than  this  represented 
to  any  monarch  living,  much  more  to  a  lady,  and  of 
her  Majesty's  apprehension  ?  And  is  it  not  more  evi- 
dent than  demonstration  itself,  that  whilst  this  impres- 
sion continueth  in  her  Majesty's  breast,  you  can  find  no 
•jther  condition  than  inventions  to  keep  your  estate  bare 
and  low;  crossing  and  disgracing  your  actions;  extenuat- 


180  LETTEK  OF  ADVICE  TO  ESSEX.  [Bo..k  II. 

ing  and  blasting  of  your  merit ;  carping  with  contempt 
at  your  nature  and  fashions  ;  breeding,  nourishing,  and 
i"ortif;^ang  such  instruments  as  are  most  factious  against 
you  ;  repulses  and  scorns  of  your  friends  and  dependents 
that  are  true  and  steadfast ;  winning  and  inveigling  away 
from  you  such  as  are  flexible  and  wavering  ;  thrusting  you 
into  odious  employments  and  offices,  to  supplant  your 
reputation  ;  abusing  you  and  feeding  you  with  dalliances 
and  demonstrations,  to  divert  you  from  descending  into 
the  serious  consideration  of  your  own  case ;  yea  and  per- 
case  venturing  you  in  perilous  and  desperate  enterprises. 
Herein  it  may  please  your  Lordship  to  understand  me  ; 
for  I  mean  nothing  less  than  that  these  things  should  be 
plotted  and  intended  as  in  her  Majesty's  royal  mind 
towards  you  :  I  know  the  excellency  of  her  nature  too 
well.  But  I  say,  wheresoever  the  formerly-described 
impression  is  taken  in  any  King's  breast  towards  a  sub- 
ject, these  other  recited  inconveniences  must,  of  necessity 
of  politic  consequence,  follow  ;  in  respect  of  such  instru- 
ments as  are  never  failing  about  princes  :  which  spy  into 
their  humors  and  conceits,  and  second  them  ;  and  not 
only  second  them,  but  in  seconding  increase  them  ;  yea 
and  many  times,  without  their  knowledge,  pursue  them 
further  than  themselves  would.  Your  Lordship  will  a.sk 
the  question,  wherewith  the  Athenians  were  wont  to  in- 
terrupt their  orators,  when  they  exaggerated  their  dan- 
gers :    Quid  ifjitur  agendum  est  .^ 

I  will  tell  your  Lord.ship  quce  mild  nunc  in  mentem 
veniunt;  supposing  nevertheless  that  yourself  out  of  your 
own  wisdom,  upon  the  case  with  this  plainness  and  lib- 
erty represented  to  you,  will  find  out  better  expedients 
and  remedies.  I  wish  a  cure  applied  to  every  of  the 
live  former  impressions,  which  I  will  take,  not  in  order, 
but  as  I  think  they  are  of  weight. 

For  the  removing  tin;  impression  of  your  nature  to  be 
opiniastre  and  not  rulable  :  First,  and  above  all  things,  I 


1595-97.]  LETTER  OF  ADVICE  TO  ESSEX.  181 

wish  that  all  matters  past,  which  cannot  be  revoked,  your 
Lordship  would  turn  altogetlier  upon  insatisfaction,  and 
not  upon  your  nature  or  proper  disposition.  This  string 
you  cannot  upon  every  apt  occasion  harp  upon  too  much. 
Xext,  whereas  I  have  noted  you  to  fly  and  avoid  (in 
some  respect  justly)  the  resemblance  or  imitation  of  my 
Lord  of  Leicester  and  my  Lord  Chancellor  Hatton  ;  yet 
I  am  persuaded  (howsoever  I  wish  your  Lordship  as  dis- 
tant as  you  are  from  them  in  points  of  favor,  integrity, 
magnanimity,  and  merit)  that  it  will  do  you  much  good 
between  the  Queen  and  jon,  to  allege  them  (as  oft  as 
you  find  occasion)  for  authors  and  patterns.  For  I  do 
not  know  a  readier  mean  to  make  her  Majesty  think  you 
are  in  your  right  way.  Thirdly^  when  at  any  time  your 
Lordship  upon  occasion  happen  in  speeches  to  do  her 
jNIajesty  right  (for  there  is  no  such  matter  as  flattery 
amongst  you  all),  I  fear  you  handle  it  magls  in  speciem 
adornatis  verbis,  quam  lit  sentire  videaris ;  so  that  a 
man  may  read  formality  in  your  countenance  ;  whereas 
your  Lordship  should  do  it  familiarly  et  oratione  fidd. 
Fourthly,  your  Lordship  should  never  be  without  some 
particulars  afoot,  which  you  should  seem  to  pursue  Avitli 
earnestness  and  afl^ection,  and  then  let  them  fall,  upon 
taking  knowledge  of  her  ]\Lijesty's  opposition  and  dislike. 
Of  which  the  weightiest  sort  may  be,  if  your  Lordship 
offer  to  labor  in  the  behalf  of  some  that  you  favor  for 
some  of  the  places  now  void  ;  choosing  such  a  subject  as 
yi)U  think  her  ]\Iajesty  is  like  to  oppose  unto.  And  if 
you  will  say  that  this  is  conjunctum  cum  aliena  injuria^  I 
will  not  answer,  Hcec  non  aliter  constahunt  ;  but  I  sa}^ 
commendation  from  so  good  a  mouth  doth  not  hurt  a 
man,  though  yon  prevail  not.  A  less  weighty  sort  of 
particulars  may  be  the  pretense  of  some  journeys,  Avliich 
at  her  ^Majesty's  request  y^our  Lordship  mought  relin- 
quish ;  as  if  you  would  pretend  a  journey  to  see  your  liv- 
ing and  estate  towards  Wales,  or   the  like  :  for  as  for 


182  LETTER  OF  ADVICE  TO  ESSEX.  [Book  II. 

great  foreign  journeys  of  employment  and  service,  it 
standetb  not  with  your  gravity  to  play  or  stratagem  with 
them.  And  the  lightest  sort  of  particulars,  which  yet  are 
not  to  be  neglected,  are  in  your  habits,  apparel,  wearings, 
gestures,  and  the  like. 

The  impression  of  greatest  prejudice  next,  is  that  of  a 
mibtar  dependence.      Wherein  I  cannot  sufficiently  won- 
der at  your  Lordship's  course  ;  that  you  say  tlie  wars  are 
your  occupation,  and  go  on  in  that  course  ;  whereas,  if  I 
inought   have   advised  your   Lordship,  you   should  have 
left  that  person  at  Plymouth  ;   more  than  when  in  coun- 
sel, or  in  commending  fit  persons  for  service  for  wars,  it 
had  been  in   season.     And  here  (my  Lord)  I  pray  mis- 
take me  not.     I  am  not  to  pky  now  the  part  of  a  gown- 
man,  that  would  frame  you  best   to  mine  own  turn.     I 
know  what  I  owe  you.     I  am  infinitely  glad  of  this  last 
journey,  now  it  is   past;  the   rather,  because  you  may 
make  so   honorable  a  full  point  for  a  time.     You  have 
property  good  enough  in  that  greatness.     There  is  none 
can,  of  many  years,  ascend  near  you  in  competition.     Be- 
sides, the   disi)Osing  of   the  places   and  affairs  both,  con- 
cerning tlie  wars,  (you  increasing  in  other  greatness,)  wdl 
of  themselves  flow  to  you;  which  will  preserve  that  de- 
pendence in  full  measure.     It  is  a  thing  that  of  all  things 
I  would   have  you  retain,  the   times  considered,  and  the 
necessity  of  the  service  ;  for  other  reason  I   know  none. 
But  I  say,  keep  it  in  substance,  but  abolish  it  in  shows 
to   the   Queen.      For   her  Majesty  loveth  peace.     Next, 
she  loveth  not  charge.     Thirdly,  that  kind  of  dependence 
maketh  a  suspected  greatness.     Therefore,   qnod  imtat 
agumm.      Let   that    be  a   sleeping    honor    awhile,    and 
cure  the  Queen's  mind  in   that  point.     Therefore  again, 
whereas  T  heard  your  Lordship  designing  to  yourself  the 
Earl  Marshal's  place,  or  the  ].l;i.v  of  Mnst.r  of  the  Ord- 
nance. T   did   not  in  my  mind  .so  well   like  of  either;  be- 
cause of  their  affinity  with   :i  lUMriial  greatness.      But  of 


1595-97.]  LETTER   OF  ADVICE   TO   ESSEX.  183 

the  places  now  void,  in  my  judgment  and  discretion,  I 
would  name  you  to  the  place  of  Lord  Priv}^  Seal.  For 
first,  it  is  the  third  person  of  the  great  officers  of  the 
crown.  Next,  it  hath  a  kind  of  superintendence  over  the 
Secretary.  It  hath  also  an  affinity  with  the  Court  of 
Wards,  in  regard  of  the  fees  from  the  liveries.  And  it 
is  a  fine  honor,  quiet  place,  and  worth  a  thousand  pounds 
by  year.  And  my  Lord  Admiral's  father  had  it,  who 
was  a  martial  man.  And  it  fits  a  favorite  to  carry  her 
Majesty's  image  in  seal,  who  beareth  it  best  expressed  in 
heart.  But  my  chief  reason  is,  that  which  I  first  alleged 
to  divert  her  Majesty  from  this  impression  of  a  mai-tial 
greatness.  In  concurrence  whereof,  if  your  Lordship 
shall  [not]  ^  remit  anj^thing  of  your  former  diligence  at 
the  Star  Chamber ;  if  you  shall  continue  such  intelli- 
gences as  are  worth  the  cherishing  ;  if  you  shall  pretend 
to  be  as  booldsh  and  contemplative  as  ever  you  were :  all 
these  courses  have  both  their  advantages  and  uses  in  them- 
selves otherwise,  and  serve  exceeding  aptly  to  this  pur- 
pose. Whereunto  I  add  one  expedient  more,  stronger 
than  all  tlie  rest ;  and,  for  mine  own  confident  opinion, 
void  of  any  prejudice  or  danger  of  diminution  of  your 
greatness  ;  and  that  is,  the  bringing  in  of  some  martial 
man  to  be  of  the  Council ;  dealing  directl}'^  with  her  Maj- 
esty in  it,  as  for  her  service  and  your  better  assistance  ; 
choosing  nevertheless  some  person  that  may  be  known 
not  to  come  in  against  you  b}^  any  former  division.  I 
judge  the  fittest  to  be  my  Lord  Mountjoy,  or  my  Lord 
Willoughby.  And  if  your  Lordship  see  deeplier  into  it 
than  I  do,  that  you  would  not  have  it  done  in  etfeet ;  yet 
in  my  opinion,  you  may  serve  your  turn  by  the  pretense 
of  it,  and  stay  it  nevertheless. 

The  third  impression  is  of  a  popvdar  reputation  ;  which 
because  it  is  a  thintr  <rood  in  itself,  being  obtained  as 
your  Lordship  obtaineth  it,  that  is  bonis  artibus  ;  and  be- 

1  Omitted  in  R. 


184  LETTER  OF  ADVICE  TO  ESSEX.  [Book  II. 

sides,  well  governed,  is  one  of  the  best  flowers  of  your 
greatness  both  present  and  to  come  ;  it  would  be  handled 
tenderly.  The  only  way  is  to  quench  it  verbis  and  not 
rebus.  And  therefore  to  take  all  occasions,  to  the  Queen, 
to  speak  against  popularity  and  popular  courses  vehe- 
mently ;  and  to  tax  it  in  all  others  ;  but  nevertheless  to 
go  on  in  your  honorable  commonwealth  courses  as  you  do. 
And  therefore  I  will  not  advise  you  to  cure  this  by  deal- 
ing in  monopolies,  or  any  oppressions.  Only,  if  in  Parlia- 
ment your  Lordship  be  forward  for  treasure  in  respect  of 
the  wars,  it  becouieth  your  person  well.  And  if  her  Maj- 
esty object  popularity  to  you  at  any  time,  I  would  say  to 
•  her,  a  Parliament  will  show  that ;  and  so  feed  her  with 
expectation. 

The  fourth  impression,  of  the  inequality  between  your 
estate  of  means  and  3'our  greatness  of  respects,  is  not  to 
be  neglected.  For  believe  it  (my  Loi-d^  that  till  her 
Majesty  find  you  careful  of  youi-  estate,  she  will  not  only 
think  you  more  like  to  continue  chargeable  to  her,  but 
also  luive  a  conceit  that  you  have  higher  imaginations. 
The  remedies  are,  first,  to  profess  it  in  all  speeches  to 
her.  Next,  in  such  suits  wherein  both  honor,  gift,  and 
profit  may  be  taken,  to  communicate  freely  witii  her 
Majesty,  by  way  of  inducing  her  to  grant,  that  it  will  be 
this  benefit  to  you.  Lastly,  to  be  plain  with  your  Lord- 
ship (for  the  gentlemen  are  such  as  I  am  beholding  to), 
nothing  can  make  the  Queen  or  the  world  think  so  much 
tliat  you  are  come  to  a  provident  care  of  your  estate,  as 
the  altering  of  some  of  your  officers  ;  who  though  they 
be  as  true  to  you  as  one  hand  to  the  other,  yet  opinio 
veritate  major.  l>ut  if,  in  r(>speet  of  the  l)onds  they  may 
be  entered  into  for  yoin"  I><ordship,  you  cannot  so  well 
dismiss  yourself  of  them,  this  cannot  be  done  but  with 
time. 

For  the  fifth  and  hist,  which  is  (;f  the  advantage,  of  a 
favoi-ite ;  sis,  seven-d   from   the  rest,  it  cannot  hurt;  so, 


1595-97.]  LETTER   OF  ADVICE   TO  ESSEX.  185 

joined  with  them,  it  makcth  her  Majesty  more  fearful 
and  shadowy,  as  not  knowing  her  own  strength.  The 
only  remedy  to  this  is,  to  give  way  to  some  other  favor- 
ite, as  in  particuhir  you  shall  find  her  Majesty  inclined  ; 
so  as  the  subject  hath  no  ill  nor  dangerous  aspect  towards 
yourself.  For  otherwise,  whosoever  shall  tell  me  that 
you  may  not  have  singular  use  of  a  favorite  at  your  de- 
votion, I  will  say  he  understandeth  not  the  Queen's  affec- 
tion, nor  your  Lordship's  condition.     And  so  I  rest. 

October  4,  1596. 

Well  would  it  liave  been  for  Essex  if  he  could  have 
taken  this  view  of  his  own  case,  and  been  content  to  rest 
upon  the  honor  which  he  had  achieved.  For  fortune  had 
no  more  prizes  of  that  kind  in  reserve  for  him.  And 
besides  the  policy  of  leaving  off  a  winner  in  a  game 
where  there  were  many  chances  against  him,  it  is  prob- 
able that  a  serious  endeavor  to  follow  Bacon's  advice 
would  have  corrected  the  defects  of  his  character  as  well 
as  made  his  fortunes  secure :  for  the  habit  of  self-control 
and  submission  would  have  taught  him  the  constancy  and 
composure  which  he  wanted.  But  it  was  advice  which, 
if  not  followed  consistently,  might  better  have  been  let 
alone.  Fits  of  affected  obsequiousness,  interrupted  by 
outbreaks  of  haughty  self-opinion,  formed  the  worst  mix- 
ture: the  one  losing  all  its  grace,  and  other  all  its  excuse; 
and  such  a  mixture,  I  am  afraid,  it  really  led  to.  For 
awhile,  however,  Essex  seems  to  have  acted  upon  it  with 
good  effect ;  and  the  rest  of  the  year  passed  without  any 
differences  that  we  hear  of.  For  Bacon  himself  also 
things  looked  better.  During  the  Christmas  holidays  he 
received  "  gracious  usage  and  speech  "  from  the  Queen : 
prelude,  it  was  hoped,  to  more  substantial  favors.  While 
he  on  his  part  presented  her  with  a  sample  of  a  work 
which  he  meditated,  on  the  Maxims  of  the  Law  ;  wliicli 
was  meant  to  be  his  great  contribution  to  the  science  of 


186  A  NEW  EXPEDITION.  [Book  JI. 

his  pvofossion  ;  a  collection  of  the  piincipiil  Rules  and 
Grounds  of  Law  dispersed  tlirough  the  body  of  decided 
cases.  How  far  he  proceeded  with  this  work  at  a  later 
period  is  not  known.  But  the  specimen  which  has  come 
down  to  us  is  supposed  by  Mr.  Heath  to  have  been  com- 
posed entirely  at  this  period  of  his  life.  To  the  same  pe- 
riod must  be  referred  the  "Essays"  in  their  earliest  form, 
the  fragment  entitled  "  Colors  of  Good  and  Evil,"  and 
the  "  Meditationes  Sacrae;"  which  wei-e  published  shortly 
after.  From  these  we  may  partly  infer  the  nature  of  his 
occupations  during  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1596,  con- 
cerning which  we  should  otherwise  be  left  in  ignorance. 

It  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  King  of  Spain 
would  take  the  capture  of  (^adiz  and  the  destruction  of 
his  shipj)ing  quietly  :  and  rumors  of  great  naval  prepara- 
tions aimed  at  EnHand  or  Ireland  were  rife  during:  the 
winter.  The  alarm  grew  hotter  as  the  fighting  season 
approached,  and  it  was  resolved  to  set  forth  another  ex- 
pedition of  sea  and  land  forces  to  meet  him.  With  this 
resolution  came  the  first  severe  trial  which  Essex's  im- 
proved courtship  had  to  endure.  In  the  Tiltyard  and  the 
Presence,  wliere  ho  naturally  without  dispute  took  the 
first  ])lace,  love  and  loyalty  supported  him  under  many 
afflictions.  But  a  war  with  Spain,  and  anybody  but 
liimself  to  enjoy  the  glory  of  it,  was  more  than  his  spirit 
could  endure.  As  early  as  the  2.")th  of  February  we  find 
that  he  had  been  keeping  his  chamber  (under  pretense 
of  sickness,  but  really  in  discontent)  "  for  a  full  fort- 
iiight;"  the  ground  of  discontent  being  apparently  the 
appointuKMit  of  colleagues;  for  it  is  added,  that  "her 
Majesty  had  resolved  to  brrak  liim  of  his  will  and  ])ull 
down  his  great  h(;art :  who  fouiid  it  a  thing  impossible, 
and  says  h(^  holds  it  fi-om  llic  mother's  side;"  and  that 
on  bi'ing  told  by  iiei'  "  lli;it  ivoid  TJionias  Ilowai'd  and 
Sir  Waltei'  Ralcgli  wv.vo.  to  Ix^  joined  with  liim  in  equal 
aullu)rity,"  lie  had  "refused  to  go,  and  been  well  ^hidden 


1595-97.]  LORD  COBHAM.  187 

for  it."»  And  though  it  was  understood  that  all  was  well 
again  then  (February  25)  between  hhn  and  the  Queen, 
we  find  him  on  the  4th  of  March  still  at  enmity  with  Sir 
Robert  Cecil,  and  (in  spite  of  Ralegh's  mediation,  who 
had  been  trying  to  reconcile  them)  on  the  point  of  quit- 
ting the  Court  and  making  a  journey  into  Wales. 

About  the  same  time  another  quarrel  arose  upon  the 
appointment  to  the  Wardenship  of  the  Cinque  Ports, 
vacant  by  the  death  of  Lord  Cobham  (March  6)  ;  whose 
eldest  son,  an  enemy  of  the  Earl's,  was  one  of  the  com- 
petitors. Essex  wished  Sir  Robert  Sydney  to  have  the 
place  ;  but  finding  the  Queen  resolute  in  favor  of  the 
new  Lord  Cobham,  and  "  seeing  he  is  likely  to  carry  it 
away,  I  mean   (said  the  Earl)  resolutely  to  stand  for  it 

myself  against  him My  Lord  Treasurer  is  come 

to  Court,  and  we  sat  in  council  this  afternoon  in  his 
chamber.  I  made  it  known  unto  them  that  I  had  just 
cause  to  hate  the  Lord  Cobham,  for  his  villainous  dealing 
and  abusing  of  me :  that  he  hath  been  my  chief  persecu- 
tor most  injustly  ;  that  in  him  tliere  is  no  worth  :  if 
therefore  her  Majesty  would  grace  him  with  honor,  I 
may  have  right  cause  to  think  myself  little  regarded  by 
her."  This  was  on  Monday  :  on  the  following  Saturday, 
we  learn  from  the  same  reporter  how  the  quarrel  ended. 
"  My  Lord  of  Essex  stood  for  the  Cinque  Ports  ;  but  the 
Queen  told  him  that  the  now  Lord  Cobham  should  have 
it.  Whereupon  he  was  resolved  to  leave  the  Court,  and 
upon  Thursday  morning,  10th  March,  himself,  his  follow- 
ers, and  horses  were  ready.  He  went  to  speak  with  my 
Lord  Treasurer  about  ten  o'clock,  and  by  Somerset 
House  Mr.  Killigrew  met  him,  and  willed  him  to  come 
to  the  Queen.  After  some  speech  had  privately  with 
lier,  she  made  him  Master  of  the  Ordnance,  which  place 
he  hath  accepted  and  receives  contentment  by  it." 

Here  then  we  see  the  same  dangerous  game,  which  Ba- 
con so  earnestly  deprecated,  once  more  played  and  won  : 


188  LADY   HATTOX,    THE   WIDOW.  [Buok  II. 

a  fact  not  to  be  forgotten  with  reference  to  the  growing 
troubles  and  fatal  termination  of  his  fortune,  which  we 
shall  shortly  witness. 

Meanwhile  Bacon's  fortunes  are  still  as  they  were ; 
only  with  this  difference  —  that  as  the  calls  on  his  in- 
come ai'e  increasing  in  the  shape  of  interest  for  borrowed 
money,  the  income  itself  is  diminishing  through  the  sale 
of  lands  and  leases.  At  this  juncture  (12th  March, 
1596-97)  Sir  William  Hatton  died ;  leaving  a  young 
widow,  clever,  handsome,  and  well  provided :  daughter 
of  Sir  Thomas  Cecil,  whose  step-mother  was  Bacon's 
aunt:  probably  therefore  an  early  acquaintance.  What 
sort  of  person  she  was  or  seemed  to  be  in  those  years,  I 
do  not  find  reported.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
worst  disease  under  which  Bacon  was  at  present  labor- 
ing would  have  been  effectuall}^  relieved  by  a  wealthy 
marriage;  and  I  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  this 
particular  marriage  would  liave  been  otherwise  ineligible. 
It  is  certain  at  any  rate  that  he  did  make  up  his  mind 
to  try  his  fortune  with  the  young  widow, — certain  also 
that  nothing  came  of  it.  But  this,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is 
all  we  know.  He  asked  the  Earl  of  Essex  to  write  to 
her  parents  and  to  herself  on  his  behalf ;  who  wrote  ac- 
cordingly :  but  wlit'Llier  the  alfair  proceeded  any  fur- 
ther—  whether  Bacon  proposed  to  hei-  parents  or  to  her- 
self ;  whether  he  ])roposed  at  all  ;  and,  if  he  proposed, 
how,  why,  and  by  whom  he  was  rejected  —  all  this  must 
remain  in  obscurity.  The  letter  whieh  comes  next  — 
without  which  I  believe  it  would  not  be  known  that  he 
liad  ever  entertained  such  a  project  —  contains,  so  far  as 
I  am  aware,  all  that  is  known  about  it. 

The  few  words  relating  to  the  forth  going  exi)edition, 
with  whi<h  the  .same  letter  ctmcludes,  are  of  more  interest 
to  us.  It  may  be  the  knowledge,  of  what  is  coming  that 
gives  a  signilicance  and  solemnity  to  such  passages  be- 
yond their  natural  import;  but  to  me  there  is  a  tragic 


1595-97.]  COXTINUED   WARNING  TO  ESSEX.  189 

pathos  ill  these  continually  repeated  notes  of  warning, 
so  lightl}^  touched,  yet  so  full  of  sad  foreboding,  and  so 
terribly  justified  by  the  coming  event  which  they  fore- 
shadowed. 

How  far  Essex  was  concerned  in  the  original  project 
of  this  expedition  is  doubtful.  He  said  himself  that  the 
Queen  "  had  armed  and  victualled  ten  of  her  own  ships 
and  caused  the  States  of  the  Low  Countries  to  f  urni.sh  the 
like  number,  before  ever  he  was  spoken  of  to  go  to  sea  ;  " 
and  it  is  true  —  so  at  least  the  rumor  ran  at  the  time  — 
that  when  a  coordinate  command  was  offered  him,  he 
refused  to  go.  But  from  the  time  that  the  scope  of  the 
enterprise  was  enlarged  and  the  sole  command  offered  to 
himself,  it  appears  from  his  own  account  that  he  entirely 
approved  and  urged  it  forward.  He  made  no  doubt  th.it 
he  should  destroy  both  the  fleet  and  army  then  collected 
at  Ferrol,  and  so  have  the  Spanish  commerce,  coasts,  and 
islands  at  his  mercy.  And  as  a  further  proof  how  well 
he  liked  the  service,  we  find  that  immediately  after  his 
nomination  as  commander-in-chief  he  laid  his  rivalries 
and  jealousies  aside,  made  friends  with  Sir  Robert  Cecil, 
and  saw  without  discontent  Ralegh  used  graciously  by 
the  Queen  and  coming  boldly  to  the  Privy  Chamber  as 
he  was  wont.  It  seems  too  that  Bacon  had  talked  of  it 
with  him  at  the  time,  as  an  action  of  which,  if  not  the 
author,  he  was  at  least  the  favorer.  "  Nay  I  remember" 
(says  he)  "  I  was  thus  plain  with  him  upon  his  voyage 
to  the  islands,  when  I  saw  every  spring  put  forth  such 
actions  of  charge  and  provocation,  that  I  said  to  him, 
'  My  Lord,  when  I  came  first  unto  you,  I  took  you  for  a 
physician  that  desired  to  cure  the  diseases  of  the  State  ; 
but  now  I  doubt  you  will  be  like  those  physicians  which 
can  be  content  to  keep  their  patients  low  because  they 
will  be  alwaj's  in  request.' "  And  indeed  whatever 
Bacon  may  have  thought  of  the  policy  of  the  expedition 
\n  itself,  we  need  not  doubt  tliat  he  regretted  the  part 


190  LETTER  TO  ESSEX.  [Book  II. 

which  Essex  was  to  have  in  it.  After  what  he  had  said 
in  October  of  the  conduct  which  he  wished  him  to  pur- 
sue, to  find  him  engtvged  in  a  new  military  enterprise 
next  May  could  be  no  matter  of  congratulation.  But 
when  the  following  letter  was  written,  the  decision  had 
been  taken :  Essex  had  accepted  the  commission,  and  all 
tliat  could  be  done  was  to  excite  him  to  discharge  it 
worthily,  thinking  of  the  thing  and  not  of  the  glory. 

TO   MY   LORD   OF   ESSEX. 

My  singular  good  Lord,  —  Your  Lordship's  so  hon- 
orable minding  my  poor  fortune  the  last  year,  in  the 
very  entrance  into  that  great  action  (which  is  a  time  of 
less  leisure),  and  in  so  liberal  an  allowance  of  your  care 
as  to  write  three  letters  to  stir  me  up  friends  in  your 
absence,  doth  after  a  sort  warrant  me  not  to  object  to 
myself  your  present  quantity  of  affairs,  whereby  to 
silence  myself  from  petition  of  the  like  favor.  I  brake 
with  your  Lordship  myself  at  the  Tower,  and  I  take  it 
my  brother  hath  since  renewed  the  same  motion,  touch- 
ing a  fortune  I  was  in  thought  to  attempt  in  genere 
ceconomico.  In  genere  politico,  certain  cross  wdnds  have 
blown  contrary.  My  suit  to  your  Lordship  is  for  your 
several  letters  to  be  left  with  me,  dormant,  to  the  gentle- 
woman and  either  of  her  parents  ;  wherein  I  do  not  doubt 
but  as  the  beams  of  your  favor  have  often  dissolved  the 
(;()ldness  of  my  fortune,  so  in  this  argument  your  Lord- 
ship will  do  the  like  with  your  pen.  My  desire  is  also, 
that  your  Lordship  would  vouchsafe  unto  me,  as  out  of 
your  care,  a  general  letter  to  my  Lord  Keeper,  for  his 
Lordship's  iioldiiig  me  from  you  recommended,  both  in 
the  course  of  my  practieo  and  in  the  course  of  my  em- 
])loyinent  in  her  Majesty's  service.  Wherein  if  your 
Lordship  shall  in  aii\-  aiitilhcsis  or  relation  allirm  tliat 
his  Lordship  shall  liav<^  no  less  fruit  of  uw,  than  of  any 
other  whom  he  may  cherisli,  I  hope:  your  Lordship  shall 


1595-97.1  LETTER  TO   ESSEX.  191 

engage  yourself  for  no  impossibility.  Lastly  and  chiefly, 
I  know  not  whether  I  shall  attain  to  see  your  Lordship 
before  your  noble  journey ;  for  ceremonies  are  things 
infinitely  inferior  to  my  love  and  to  my  zeal.  This  let 
me,  with  your  allowance,  say  unto  you  by  pen.  It  is 
true  that  in  my  well-meaning  advices,  out  of  my  love  to 
your  Lordship,  and  perhaps  out  of  the  state  of  mine  own 
mind,  I  have  sometimes  persuaded  a  course  differing ; 
ac  tihi  pro  tutis  insignia  facta  placehunt.  Be  it  so :  yet 
remember,  that  the  signing  of  your  name  is  nothing, 
unless  it  be  to  some  good  patent  or  charter,  whereby 
your  country  may  be  endowed  with  good  and  benefit. 
Which  I  speak,  both  to  move  you  to  preserve  your  per- 
son for  further  merit  and  service  of  her  Majesty  and  your 
country ;  and  likewise  to  refer  this  action  to  the  same 
end.  And  so,  in  most  true  and  fervent  prayers,  I  com- 
mend your  Lordship  and  your  work  in  hand  to  the  pres- 
ervation and  conduct  of  the  Divine  Majesty;  so  much 
the  more  watchful,  as  these  actions  do  more  manifestl}'- 
in  show,  though  alike  in  truth,  depend  upon  His  divine 
providence. 

If  Bacon's  success  with  the  young  widow  had  depended 
upon  the  strength  of  Essex's  recommendation,  he  would 
not  have  been  disappointed.  A  good  opinion  more  con- 
fident, an  interest  more  earnest  and  unmistakabh'  sincere, 
could  not  be  conveyed  in  English.^  Of  the  further  pro- 
ceeding we  know  nothing ;  not  even  whether  the  pro- 
posal was  ever  made.  All  we  know  is  that  in  1597 
rumor  assigned  Lady  Hatton  to  Mr.  Greville,  without 
any  allusion  to  Bacon,  and  that  on  the  7th  of  November, 
1598,  she  became  the  wife  neither  of  Greville  nor  of 
Bacon,  but  of  Coke.  In  after-years  we  shall  meet  her 
again  ;  but  at  present  I  have  no  information  to  give 
about  the  wooing  either  of  the  successful  suitor  or  the 
unsuccessful. 

1  The  letters  are  printed  in  Birch's  Memoirs,  ii.,  p.  347. 


192  STAR  CHAMBER  FEES.  [Book  II, 

The  fortune  in  geiiere  oeconomico  having  thus  shared 
the  same  fate  with  the  fortune  in  genere  politico^  Bacon 
had  to  consider  whether  for  relief  of  his  immediate 
necessities  anything  could  be  made  of  his  reversion  of 
the  Clerksliip  of  the  Star  Chamber.  It  was  a  saleable 
oiiice ;  and  the  present  possessor  was  in  som'e  danger  of 
being  deprived  of  it,  upon  a  charge  of  exacting  unlawful 
fees.  For  some  years  the  administration  of  this  office 
had  given  rise  to  complaints.  In  the  last  Parliament  a 
bill  had  been  brought  in,  for  the  reformation  of  it ;  but 
by  a  little  management  on  the  part  of  the  Speaker  had 
been  thrown  out  on  the  second  reading.  Upon  this  I 
suppose  the  complainants  addressed  themselves  to  the 
Queen.  For  it  appears  that  the  matter  was  under  in- 
cpiiry  in  1595,  when  Puckering  was  Lord  Keeper ;  and 
it  is  certain  that  at  a  later  period  some  of  the  fees 
claimed  by  the  Clerk  of  the  Council  were  by  authority 
of  the  Lord  Keeper  Egerton  restrained. 

The  complaint  afterwards  took  the  form  of  a  bill  ex- 
hibited against  Mill  in  the  Star  Chamber,  the  consider- 
ation of  which  was  by  the  Queen  referred  to  Egerton, 
Buckhurst,  Cecil,  Fortescue,  and  Popham  ;  but  the  end 
was  that  the  complaints  were  dismissed,  the  proceedings 
cancelled,  and  the  Commissioners  ordered  to  settle  what 
fees,  etc.,  were  fit  to  be  allowed  in  future,  and  "  the  same 
to  confirm  unto  the  said  William  Mill."  So  the  reversion 
of  the  office  remained  with  Bacon  as  before,  and  the  day 
of  })ossession  was  no  nearer. 

While  these  private  cares  were  occupying  Bacon  at 
liome,  the  great  expedition  had  S(>t  forth  ;  not,  how- 
ever, on  this  occasion,  willi  lia])[)v  winds,  nor  in  token  of 
liappy  adventures.  ( )1"  (lit;  last  adventure  of  the  kind 
jiacon  had  been  "  infinitely  glad,  now  that  it  was 
])ast."  No  sueli  consohit ion  was  r(!served  for  him  Iku'c. 
If  he  thought,  as  I  suppose  lie  did,  that  Essex  was  not 
llin    man    for    such    enterprises,   and    that    his    fortunes 


1595-97.]  ESSEX'S  EXI'EDITIOX.  193 

would  one  day  be  shipwrecked  in  them,  everything  that 
happened  in  the  course  of  this  new  voyage  must  liave 
tended  to  confirm  liim  in  his  judgment. 

The  frustration  of  the  original  design  was  indeed  due 
simply  to  weather,  and  could  not  have  been  helped.  Tlie 
fleet,  dispersed  and  disabled  by  a  storm,  and  driven  back 
to  Plyuiouth  to  refit,  was  found  to  be  too  much  reduced 
in  strength  for  an  attempt  upon  the  Armada  collected  at 
Ferrol.  But  it  was  thought  that. they  were  still  strong 
enough  to  intercept  the  Indian  treasure  on  its  homeward 
voyage,  and  upon  an  attentive  study  of  the  confused  and 
unsatisfactory  narrative,  drawn  by  Essex  and  signed  by 
all  the  commanders,  which  passes  for  the  official  report, 
it  is  difficult  not  to  think  that  the  attempt  failed  merely 
for  want  of  ordiuary  judguient  in  the  conduct  of  it. 
Last  year,  after  the  successful  attack  on  Cadiz,  Essex 
had  proposed  to  sail  to  Terceira  and  capture  the  Indian 
fleet,  but  was  overruled  by  his  colleagues  ;  and  when  it 
was  found  that,  within  a  day  or  two  after  his  proposition 
had  been  rejected,  tlie  fleet  in  question  sailed  quietly  into 
the  Tagus,  everybody  said  it  was  a  }irize  lost  by  ill  coun- 
sel, —  it  must  have  been  taken  if  liis  advice  had  been  fol- 
lowed. On  this  occasion  he  had  no  council  to  hamper 
his  movements,  no  weather  to  bafile  them.  He  sailed 
to  the  Azores,  where  the  homewai'd  fleet  was  sure  to 
touch,  for  the  special  purpose  of  intercepting  it,  an 
enterprise  certainly  not  made  more  difficult  by  the  ab- 
sence of  the  Adelantado,  whom  he  expected  to  find  there 
before  him.  It  arrived  at  the  expected  season  in  the 
expected  place,  was  met  with  by  some  ships  of  his  own 
squadron,  who  fired  guns  and  carried  lights  all  night  to 
give  notice  of  it.  Yet  not  a  ship  was  taken  or  damaged, 
except  three  or  four  stragglers  that  had  got  separated 
from  the  main  body. 

He  said  afterwards,  and  no  doubt  thought,  that  it 
was  only  by  a  very  unfortunate  accid>-ut  tliat  he  was  pre- 

voL.  1.  13 


194  THE  ISLAND  VOYAGE.  [Book  II. 

vented  from  taking  them  all,  —  the  accident  of  a  false 
intelligence,  which  made  him  stand  one  night  a  contrary 
way.^  But  looking  at  his  own  story,  told  at  tlie  time,  it 
would  rather  seem  that  he  was  in  fact  indebted  to  the 
concurrence  of  three  separate  accidents,  which,  if  any 
good  had  come  of  them,  must  have  been  considered 
uncommonly  fortunate,  for  the  chance  of  taking  one. 
The  "contrary  way"  which  he  stood  that  night  was  the 
way  which  he  was  going;  the  "false  intelligence"  did 
not  make  him  alter  his  course,  only  prevented  him  from 
altering  it.  Wliy  he  was  going  that  way,  is  a  question 
which  modern  historians  and  biographers  do  not  seem  to 
have  asked  themselves,  and  whiclx  the  companions  of  his 
voyage,  though  tliey  must  have  asked  it  with  wonder, 
were  evidently  unable  to  answer.  And  as  this  is  the  first 
action  of  which  lie  had  the  sole  direction,  it  is  worth 
while  to  examine  it  a  little  more  closely  ;  for  in  order  to 
understand  Bacon's  relations  with  Essex,  it  is  indispen- 
sable to  understand  Essex  himself. 

As  soon  as  lie  arrived  at  tlie  Azores  lie  ascertained 
that  tlie  AdclantiuU)  was  not  there,  and  that  Terceira, 
which  was  the  Spanish  stronghold  in  those  islands,  was 
too  strong  to  be  attempt<>d  with  the  force  he  had.  The 
one  considerable  s(;rvice  which  remainiMJ  for  him  I  here- 
fore,  was  to  interci'pt  the  fleet  of  treasure  which  was 
expected  from  the  Indies,  but  was  detained  as  yet  by 
contrary  winds.  His  first  proceeding  was  obvious  ;ind 
n;itural  :  he  passed  through  the  group  of  islands  to  Flores, 
the  westernmost  of  them,  took  in  watcu-  and  stores,  and 
waitt^d  some  ten  d:iys,  when  he  was  joined  l»y  Ralegh 
willi  thirty  otliei-  ships,  wliidi  hail  l)een  separaleil  by 
w(!ather  olV  fhi-  coast  of  Sjiniii.  .\t  lh;il  lime  the  wind 
changed.-      II'   the  Meet  was  coming  at  ;ill,  liierefore,  now 

1  Ehkc.x's    A/)(iIiii/i/. 

2  "Ah  yi't  llie  witifl  liiis  l)i'on  conlniry  for  nil  Imliiin  HfctH,  !)iit  now  it  is 
good."  —  Kkhcx  to  Cecil,  Hitli  .Sf|)ti;mbur,  Uoch  of  tin  Kails  -if  Eastx,  i.,  p.  45(i 


I50.V117.]  THE  ISLAND  VOYAGE.  195 

was  the  time  to  look  out  for  it.  And  the  object  being  to 
prevent  it  from  getting  under  the  batteries  of  Terceira, 
the  only  place  in  the  islands  where  it  could  not  be  at- 
tacked, it  would  seem  to  have  been  above  all  thinefs 
desirable  to  keep  the  body  of  the  fleet  in  a  position  to 
command  that  passage.  Yet  it  was  precisely  at  this  junc- 
ture, and  with  the  wind  N.  N.  W.,  that  Essex  ordered  his 
whole  force  to  S't.  MichaeVs,  of  all  places,  —  an  island  ly- 
ing both  southward  and  eastward  of  Terceira;  his  reason, 
—  the  only  reason  he  gives,  —  being,  that  "  he  was  told 
by  a  small  pinnace  come  from  the  Indies,  that  it  was 
doubtful  whether  the  Indian  fleet  came  from  thence  or 
not,  and  if  they  did,  they  would  change  their  usual 
course  and  come  in  some  height  [z.  e.  latitude]  more  to 
the  southward,  till  the}'^  were  passed  these  islands,  wh-^re 
usualh^  they  are  attended."  Which  information  (he  pro- 
ceeds) "  made  us  resolve  in  council  to  go  for  Fayal,  and 
so  for  St.  Michael,  and  to  have  some  nimble  ships  to  lie 
off  and  on  at  sea  both  to  the  southward  and  the  north- 
ward." 

If  the  movement  had  been  only  to  Fayal^  which  was 
the  most  central  position  on  the  western  side  of  the  group, 
and  in  nearly  the  same  latitude  with  Terceira,  it  would 
have  been  judicious,  and  would  in  fact  have  met  with  the 
success  it  deserved.  But  if  the  .Spaniards  themselves  had 
had  the  disposition  of  the  English  fleet,  they  couM  not 
have  done  better  then  order  it  to  St.  Michael's.  Much 
has  been  said  of  Essex's  ill  luck  in  so  narrowly  missing 
his  prize  ;  but  his  ill  luck  Avas  all  of  his  own  choosing. 
Luck  struggled  hard  on  his  side.  For  what  happened  ? 
While  he  was  on  his  way  "  towards  St.  Miehaers,"  —  but 
still,  it  seems,  on  the  northwest  of  Terceira,  —  hearing 
that  a  great  ship  had  been  seen  off  Graciosa  (in  the 
neighborhood  of  which  he  must  then  have  been)  moving 
westward,  he  immediately  prepared  to  form  his  fleet  in 
three  divisions,  —  one  to  go  roiiml  Terceira  by  the  north, 


196  I'll'"'   ISLAND   VOYAGE.  [Book  II. 

another  by  the  south,  and  a  third  to  ply  westward,  and 
so  cut  her  otT  from  Fayal  if  she  should  make  thither.    By 
this  disposition  he  made  sure  of  intercepting  her  before 
she  could  gain  a  place  of  refuge  ;  and  the  occasion  came 
opportunely  to  warn  him  against  taking  a  course  in  which 
such  a  disposition  would  become  impracticable.     But  it 
seems  he  was  so  bent  upon  St.  Michael's  that  nothing 
less  than  the  immediate  prospect  of  a  prize  could  divert 
him  from  it.     For  being  told,  while  he  was  giving  the 
orders  for  this  movement,  that    the  ship  had  been  fol- 
lowed and  proved  to  be  an  English  pinnace,  he  forthwith 
countermanded  his  directions  and  proceeded  on  his  for- 
mer course,  followed  (as  he  thought)  by  all  the  fleet; 
proceeded  (that  is)  to  a  position  fiom  which,  while  the 
wind  continued  in  its  present  quarter,  it  would  be  im- 
possible to    intercept  the  passage  either  to    Terceira  or 
Fayal ;  so  that  if  the  treasure-fleet  were  coming  by  the 
usual  route,  it  had  nothing  to  do  but  sail  quietly  under 
the  batteries  while  his  back  was  turned.     And  if  all  had 
gone  as  he  intended,  not  a  ship  would  have  been  taken 
or  molested.     For,  as  if  to  be  sooner  out  of  their  way,  he 
shaped  his  course  to  St.  Michaers  by  the  north  side  of 
Terceira,  so  as  not  even  to  cross  their  line  of  passage.^ 

But  here  accident  interposed  in  his  favor  again.  For 
it  so  happened  that  the  person  who  was  charged  with  the 
order  for  the  movement  which  was  so  suddenly  counter- 
manded, bfing,  I  suppose,  dull  of  hearing,  made  two  extra- 
ordinary mistakes  :  "  mishearing  "  the  effect  of  the  first 
order,  and  not  hearing  the  countermand  at  all  ;  the  con- 
3('(pienc(j  of  all  whicHi  was  that  four  ships  stood  about  to 
tlie  westward  by  themselves,  while  the  Admiral  with  tlu^ 
rest  of  the  fleet  sailed  awiiy  due  east,  quite  unconscious 
of  tlie  fa<-t.  These  four  ships  being  thus  by  mistake  sent 
in  the  din-.'tion  in  whi.h  the  treasure-fleet  was  most 
likely  to  be  met,  did  that  very  night  (and  no  wonder) 

1  Along  '11,  p.  36. 


1595-97.]  THE  ISLAND  VOYAGE,  197 

fall  in  with  a  fleet  of  twenty-five  sail,  among  which  were 
some  sixteen  richly  laden  carracks.  But  accident  could 
do  no  more  when  design  was  so  deliberately  adverse. 
The  four  ships  by  tlieraselves  were  not  strong  enough  to 
stop  them,  and  it  was  in  vain  that  they  burned  lights 
and  fired  guns  for  help,  the  Admiral  being  by  this  time 
far  out  of  siglit  and  hearing,  and  (which  made  it  worse) 
far  to  leeward.  So  tliat  by  the  time  he  heard  the  news 
tlie  fleet  was  safe  under  the  batteries,  and  it  still  toolc 
him  three  days  to  weather  the  point,  and  ascertain  by 
inspection  that  he  could  not  help  it. 

After  all,  however,  luck  did  something  for  him,  for  it 
was  in  this  fruitless  endeavor  to  intercept  the  main  body 
that  he  fell  in  with  three  stragglers,  which,  having  already 
struck  to  Ralegh,  he  sent  his  own  boats  to  take  possession 
of,  and  which  proved  a  good  prize  ;  the  only  prize  of  the 
voyage  worth  mentioning. 

Had  this  been  anybody's  account  of  the  matter  but 
his  own,  I  should  not  have  believed  it,  the  proceeding 
seems  so  unaccountable.  Being  his  own,  we  must  at 
least  suppose  that  he  wished  it  to  pass  for  the  true  ac- 
count, and  that  if  his  course  admits  of  any  other  ex- 
planation, it  was  one  which  he  could  not  so  conveniently 
avow.  We  know,  however,  that  it  is  at  least  a  very 
imperfect  account,  and  putting  the  facts  omitted  and  the 
fact  of  their  omission  together,  we  may,  I  think,  make 
it  a  little  more  intelligible. 

Essex,  it  must  be  remembered,  had  had  no  experience 
in  this  kind  of  service.  He  had  all  his  mistakes  to  make  ; 
and  being  naturally  impatient,  impetuous,  and  over-con- 
fident,—  though  at  the  same  time  (according  to  Sir  W, 
Monson,  whom  I  can  very  well  believe)  "  of  a  flexible 
nature  to  be  overruled, "  —  they  would  doubtless  be 
many.  The  principal  objects  with  which  he  undertook 
the  expedition'  had  all  failed.  The  Spanish  fleet,  while 
■t  remained  at  Ferrol,  was  unassailable.     If  it  had  gone 


1^98  THE  ISLAND   VOYAGE.  [Book  II. 

to  the  Azores,  as  reported,  he  might  do  something  with 
it  there  ;  but  it  had  not  gone,  so  that  chance  was  cut  off. 
Could  he  take  Terceira  ?     No,  it  was  too  strong.      Could 
he  intercept  the  treasure?     Yes,  if  it  came  ;  but  was  it 
coming?     And  if  not,  what  then?     He  might  sack  the 
other  islands,  and  so  secure  a  little  plunder,  a  few  pris- 
oners, and  perhaps  some   glory.     It  would  be  of  no  i^al 
use,  but  might  yield  something  to  talk  of ;  it  was  what 
the  soldiers   about  him   wished  for,   and    it  would  sound 
better  than  nothing,  which  was  the  alternative.     In  this 
state  of  mind  he   waited  at  Flores  till  he  was  tired   of 
waitincr.     He  began  to  fear  that  the  homeward  fleet  was 
not  coming.     The  first  ship  which  came  with  the  change 
of  wind  from  that  quarter  brought  no  tidings  of  it ;  per- 
haps it  would  come  another  way.     It  was  absolutely  nec- 
essary to  do  something.     Now  a  plan  had  been  already 
arrancred  for  -  taking   in "   the    islands,    as  they  calle.l 
it  •  one  division  was  to  attack  St.  Michael,  another  Pico, 
another  Graciosa,  another  Fayal.     The  last,   which  was 
the  nearest,  he  was  to  undertake  himself,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  Ralegh,  should  he  arrive  in  time.     This  plan, 
as  orirjinalhj  designed,  was   probably  intended  to  com- 
bine with  the  main  object  of  intercepting  the  treasure. 
Three  parts  of  the  fleet  would  still  be  to  windward  of 
the  passage  to  Terceira,  an.l  though  they  could  not  be  so 
readv  in  that  case  to  give  chase  upon  the  instant  as  they 
Hhould  have  been,  still  they  were  in  the  way  and  would 
haye  their  chance.     And   this   phui    it   was  resolved   to 
carry  into   effect    at  once,    for    when   Ralegh  arrived  at 
Flores,  he  was  ordered  lu.t  t..  stay  to  tak(!  in  watiU",  but 
to  follow  the  Admiral  at  one.  to  Fayal.     Thig  order  was 
given  on  th..  lOth  of  Scpt-mber.    It  seems,  however,  that 
sonw.thing  cam.,  a.-ross  Fss...x  tlie  same  day,  and  changed 
or  interrui.ted  his  purpose,  for  wlu-n   Riilegh  arrived  at 
Fayal  the  same  evming,  he  foun.l  there  neither  Admira 
nor  Vice-A.lmiral,  nor  anv  n.ws  o[  them.     And  they  did 


1595-97.]  TQE  ISLAND  VOYAGE.  199 

not  arrive  till  the  22d.i  What  they  had  been  doing  in 
the  interval  is  not  hinted  either  in  the  official  report,  or 
in  Essex's  "  Apology,"  or  in  any  other  acconnt  of  the 
voyage  that  I  have  met  with  ;  bnt  I  snppose  they  had 
heard  of  a  sail  seen  somewhere,  and  had  gone  suddenly 
of?  in  pursuit  forgetting  to  send  word  of  it  to  the  other 
squadron. 

However  that  may  be,  they  were  not  to  be  found  or 
heard  of.  And  an  aiiair  happened  in  consequence,  which, 
though  not  mentioned  in  the  official  report,  I  take  to  be 
the  real  explanation  of  the  resolution  taken  shortly  after, 
and  otherwise  so  unaccountable,  to  proceed  with  the 
whole  fleet  to  St.   Michael's. 

Ralesh  was  Rear  Admiral.  He  had  been  ordered  to 
Fayal  to  assist  in  an  attack  upon  the  island,  and  had 
been  told  that  he  need  not  stay  to  water  at  Flores,  be- 
cause he  could  get  what  he  wanted  there.  He  was  in 
great  want  of  water,  but  found  that  he  could  not  land 
without  opposition.  After  waiting  four  days,  and  re- 
ceiving no  tidings  or  instructions,  he  determined  to  force 
a  landing.  Which  he  did,  and,  one  thing  leading  to 
another,  he  followed  his  fortune,  and  succeeded  in  taking 
the  town.  So  that  when  Essex  arrived,  he  found  that 
part  of  his  work  nearly  completed,  and  everything  ready 
for  an  attack  upon  the  high  fort,  which  was  still  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  This  was  so  much  gained.  But  it 
involved  the  loss  of  one  thing  which,  unfortunately,  he 
valued  more.  He  might  take  possession  of  the  island 
in  the  Queen's  name  and  carry  off  whatever  was  worth 
talking,  but  he  could  not  carry  off  the  glory  of  it.  The 
credit  of  the  achievement  was  not  transferable,  and  must 
go  to  another.  This  touched  Essex's  worst  weakness, 
a  weakness  which  was  increasing  upon  him,  and  not  only 
marriug  his  work  but  degrading  his  character.  His  old 
ambition  to  outstrip  competitors  in  the  race  of  glory, — 

^  See  Sir  Arthur  Gorges'  narrative,  printed  in  Purchas. 


200  THE  ISLAND  VOYAGE.  [Book  II. 

an  ambition  not  incompatible  with  magnanimity,  —  was 
fast   degenerating    into    intolerance  of  competition,  —  a 
vice  with  which  magnanimity  can  have  nothing  to  do. 
It  was  not  enongh  to  win,  nnless  the  credit  of  wnnning 
were  his  own,  and  his  own  only.     He  had  already  in  the 
course  of  this  very  service  shown  symptoms  of  the  dis- 
ease.    Though  he  had  been  on  friendly  terms  with  Ra- 
legh ever  sin'^ce  it  was  settled  that  he  should  have  the  sole 
command  himself,  he  had  shown  himself  extremely  ap- 
prehensive lest  he  should  find  an  opportunity  for  indi- 
vidual distinction.     When   Ralegh  was  separated   from 
the  fleet  of  Spain  by  the  breaking  of  his  mainyard,  and 
on  repairing  to  the  \xppointed  rendezvous  could  hear  no 
tidings  of  the  Admiral,  but  was  joined  by  several  other 
ships  that  had  in  like  manner  parted  company,  Essex 
was  easily  persuaded  that  he  was  keeping  away  on  pur- 
pose that  he  might  do  some  w^ork  on  his  own  account. 
And  now  that  accident  had  presented  him  (being  again 
at  the  appointed  rendezvous  and  again  without  tidings 
of  the  Admiral)  with  an  opportunity  of  doing  by  him- 
self the  very  service  which  he  had  been  ordered  thither 
to  assist  in,  Essex  was  hardly  persuaded  to  let  him  off 
without  trial   upon   a  capital  charge.     Not  tluvt  he  had 
failed.     Not  that  by  premature  action  he  had  marred  any 
one  object  of  the  voyage.     Not  that  what  remained  to 
b(^  done  could  not  be  done  more  easily  than   if  he  had 
rested  inactiv.-.       livit  he  had  won  a  little  glory  wliich 
would  otherwise  luive  fallen   to   the  commandei-in-eluef. 
For  this  offense  it  was  said  the  i)n)per  punishment  was 
nothing  less  than  death.      An.l   it  sc-ems  that  it  was  ul- 
timately passed  over  upon  a  very  stninge  condition.    Ra- 
l,..di  had  not  only  t..  apologi/.-  lor  tlu'  cm.r,  but  to  resign 
the  glorv:   whi.-ii,  as  it  could   not   be  IranstVnv.l,  was   to 
be  ctmcidlrd.     Such    :.t   lc:.st    1    inr.r  to  have  been  the 
terms   upon   which   jx-ac.  was  made,  frou.   th..  singular 
fact,  that  in  the  ollicial   report  of  the  voyage,  signed  by 


1595-97.]  THE  ISLAND  VOYAGE.  201 

all  the  commaiulers,  this  particular  action,  —  tlie  taking 
of  Fayal,  —  though  by  far  tlie  most  remarkable  feat  per- 
formed, and  really  a  gallant  one,  had  the  object  been  ade- 
quate, is  not  mentioned  or  alluded  to. 

While  such  humors  reigned,  it  is  not  strange  if  foolish 
things  were  done,  and  I  cannot  help  suspecting  that  im- 
patience to  eclipse  the  capture  of  Fayal  was  the  true 
motive  of  the  vo^-age  to  St.  jNIichael's,  and  that  the  poor 
success  of  that  enterprise  was  the  real  reason  wh}^  the 
first  action  was  suppressed  in  the  narrative  and  the  last 
unexplained.  Effectual  precautions  were  taken  on  this 
occasion  to  exclude  Ralegh  from  all  share  in  the  expected 
glory,  but,  unfortunately,  the  glory  did  not  come. 

But  though  fortune  did  not  favor  Essex  in  this  partic- 
ular, she  was  still  to  interfere  most  signally  in  his  behalf 
in  a  matter  of  much  more  importance.  Where  was  the 
fleet  of  Ferrol  all  this  time?  Finding  that  it  had  not 
gone  to  the  Azores,  he  inferred  tliat  it  would  stay  where 
it  was.i  It  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  him  that 
though  the  Adelantado  would  not  come  out  in  the  face  of 
an  English  fleet  newly  equipped  to  engage  him,  he  might 
come  well  enough  when  that  fleet  was  in  the  middle  of 
the  Atlantic.  Why  he  did  not  start  sooner  is,  I  suppose, 
to  be  explained  by  the  proverbial  slowness  of  Spanish 
movements  ;  for  from  the  middle  of  September  to  nearly 
the  end  of  October,  he  had  the  Channel  to  himself.  But 
what  actually  happened,  and  how  httle  it  was  owing  to 
good  management  that  England  escaped  that  autunm  a 
great  disaster,  I  cannot  better  explain  than  in  the  words 
of  Sir  William  Monson,  one  of  the  captains  of  the  voyage. 

"The  Spaniards,  who  presumed  more  upon  their  advantages 
than  their  valors,  thought  themselves  in  too  weak  a  condition  to 
follow  us  to  the  islands,  and  put  their  fortunes  upon  a  day's  ser- 
vice, but  subtilly  devised  how  to  intercept  us  as  we  came  home, 

1  "  We  have  missed  the  Adelantado,  who  will  not  leave  Pyrrol  thh  year.''  — 
Essex  to  Cecil,  IGth  September,  Lives  of  the  Earls  of  Essex,  i.,  p.  456. 


202  THE  ISLAND  VOYAGE.  [Book  II. 

when  we  had  least  thought  or  suspicion  of  them  ;  and  tlieir  fleet, 
that  was  all  the  while  in  the  Groyne  and  Ferrol,  not  daring  to 
put  forwards  while  they  knew  ours  to  be  upon  the  coast,  their 
General,  the  Adelautada  came  for  England,  with  a  resolution  to 
knd  at  Falmouth  and  fortify  it,  and  afterwards  with  their  ships 
to  keep  the  sea,  and  expect  our  coming  home  scattered. 

"  Having  thus  cut  off  our  sea  forces,  and  possessing  the  harbor 
of  Falmouth,  they  thought  with  a  second  supply  of  thirty-seA  en 
Levantiscos  ships,  wliich  the  Marquis  Arumbullo  commanded, 
to  have  returned  and  gained  a  good  footing  in  England. 

"  These  designs  of  theirs  were  not  foreseen  by  us  ;  for  we 
came  home  scattered,  as  they  made  reckoning,  not  twenty  in 
number  together. 

"  We  may  say,  and  that  truly,  that  God  fought  for  us ;  for  the 
Adelantada  being  within  a  few  leagues  of  the  island  of  Scdly, 
he  commanded  all  his  captains  on  board  him  to  receive  his  di- 
rections ;  but  whilst  they  were  in  consultation,  a  violent  storm 
took  them  at  east,  insomuch  that  the  captains  coidd  hardly  re- 
cover their  ships,  but  in  no  case  were  able  to  save  their  boats, 
the  storm  continued  so  furious,  and  hai)py  was  he  that  could 
recover  liome,  seeing  their  design  thus  overthrown  by  the  loss 
of  their  boats,  wherel)y  their  means  of  landing  was  taken  away. 
Some  who  were  willing  to  stay  and  receive  the  further  com- 
mands of  the  General  kept  the  seas  so  long  upon  our  coast,  that 
in  the  end  they  were  taken  ;  others  put  themselves  into  our 
harbors  for  refuge  and  succor,  and  it  is  certainly  known  that  in 
this  voyage  the  Spaniards  lost  eighteen  ships,  the  St.  Luke  and 
the  St.  Barthohmeiv  being  two,  and  in  the  rank  of  his  best  gal- 
leons. 

"  W<!  must  ascribe  this  success  to  God  only  :  for  certainly  the 
enemies'  designs  were  dangerous,  and  not  to  be  diverted  by  onr 
force  ;  but  by  liis  will  who  wouhl  not  suller  the  Spaniards  in 
any  of  (heir  attempts  to  set  footing  in  England,  as  we  have 
done  in  all  the  cpiarters  of  Spain,  Portugal,  tlie  Islands,  and 
both  the  Indies."  ^ 

It  wiis  Dear  tlic  end  nf   ()t't..l)rr  wlini  tlie  llccf  iirrived, 

1  A  Trur  ami  Exarl  Accimni  uf  ihr  W'lrs  irilh  S/,:,!n  in  ihe  Rt'ujn  of  Queen 
EUzabilh  <;/'  Fauums  .Uem<n-ij,  \>y  Sii-  \Villi;ini  Mon-dii,  ]).  38. 


1595-97.]  THE  ISLAND  VOYAGE.  203 

and  fouiul  all  the  south  coast  m  great  ahirm,  and  the 
danger  not  yet  over.  The  necessity  of  making  ready  for 
fresh  action  postponed  all  else  for  the  time,  and  I  am  not 
aware  that  the  conduct  of  the  voyage  was  ever  made  the 
subject  of  a  formal  investigation.  It  vv^as  rumored,  how- 
ever, in  Court,  that  the  Queen  was  not  well  pleased  with 
Essex,  either  for  his  management  of  the  business  or  for 
his  treatment  of  Ralegh  ;  and  that  he  was  already  (5th 
November)  acting  the  injured  man.  If  to  his  many 
great  gifts  there  had  but  been  added  the  gift  of  profiting 
by  his  own  errors  in  the  knowledge  of  himself,  the  result 
of  the  enterprise,  though  worthless  enough  to  the  coun- 
try, might  have  been  of  infinite  value  to  him.  But  that 
gift  was  wanting.  He  appears  to  have  been  just  as  pop- 
ular as  ever,  and  not  at  all  wiser.  Still  ready  to  find  a 
personal  grievance  in  every  smile  bestowed  on  a  rival, 
whether  friend  or  enemy,  he  had  many  grievances  at  this 
time  to  digest.  These  I  shall  have  to  refer  to  hereafter  ; 
but  as  I  find  no  record  of  any  meeting  or  other  commu- 
nication at  this  time  between  him  and  Bacon,  who  was 
now  deeply  engaged  in  the  business  of  the  new  Parlia- 
ment which  had  just  met,  I  must  now  give  some  account 
of  that. 


CHAPTER  II. 

A.  D.  1597-1598.     ^TAT.  37. 

QuEEX  Elizabeth's  courage  was  of  that  rare  temper 
which  can  rise  even  into  passion  without  disturbing  the 
judgment.  Being  unconscious  of  fear,  she  had  no  need 
to  prove  her  valor  either  to  herself  or  others  by  facing 
danger,  and  could  the  more  steadily  see  and  avoid  it. 
When  she  saw  symptoms  of  mutiny  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  the  issue  doubtful  or  the  struggle  incon- 
venient, though  she  stood  her  ground  while  the  dispute 
lasted,  she  took  care  that  the  occasion  should  not  arise 
again.  And,  therefore,  although  the  most  important  busi- 
ness of  the  new  Parliament  was  much  like  that  of  the 
last,  and  the  circumstances  not  materially  different,  we 
hear  nothing  this  time  of  any  attempt  in  the  Upper 
House  to  dictate  to  the  Lower,  of  any  pi-ojwsal  for  joint 
deliberation  on  questions  of  supply,  of  any  warnings 
from  the  Throne  not  to  waste  time  in  speeches  or  meddle 
with  ecclesiastical  causes,  or  of  any  intimation  that  they 
were  not  called  to  make  new  laws.  (.)n  the  contrary,  to 
consider  the  state  of  the  laws  was  represented  as  their 
proper  business  ;  and  if  provision  for  tht;  defense  of  the 
kingdom  was  the  first  thing  to  be  tliought  of,  it  was  only 
because,  if  that  were  neglected,  laws  were;  made  in  vain. 
"And  whercias  "  (said  the  Lord  Keeper,  in  terms  which 
Bacon  must  have  entirely  apprcn'ed)  "  tin;  number  of 
laws  aheady  niad(i  is  very  great,  some  of  tiieiu  l)eing  ob- 
solete and  worn  out  of  use,  others  idle  and  vain,  serving 
to  no  purpose ;  some  again  over-heavy  and  too  severe  for 


1597-98.]  PARLIAMENT   OF   1597.  205 

the  offense ;  others  too  loose  and  slack  for  the  faults  they 
are  to  punish,  and  many  so  full  of  difficulty  to  be  under- 
stood, that  they  cause  many  controversies  and  much  ditH- 
culty  to  arise  amongst  the  subjects  ;  therefore  you  are  to 
enter  into  a  due  consideration  of  the  laws,  and  where  you 
find  superfluity,  to  prune  and  cut  off" ;  where  defect,  to 
supply  ;  and  where  ambiguity,  to  explain  ;  that  they  be 
not  burdensome  but  profitable  to  the  commonwealth. 
Which  being  a  service  of  importance  and  very  needful  to 
be  required,  yet  as  nothing  is  to  be  regarded  if  due  mean 
be  not  had  to  withstand  the  malice  and  the  force  of  those 
professed  enemies  which  seek  the  destruction  of  the  whole 
state,  this  before  all  and  above  all  is  to  be  thought  of," 
etc.  And  so  he  proceeds  to  speak  generally  of  the  neces- 
sity of  aids  and  subsidies.  Nothing  was  said  of  any  im- 
mediate alarm,  though  this  was  spoken  on  the  24th  of 
October,  while  the  Spanish  fleet  was  still  hovering  about 
the  coasts,  and  our  own  not  yet  returned.  And  so  little 
appearance  was  there  of  hurry,  anxiety,  or  impatience, 
that  immediately  after  the  presentation  of  the  Speaker 
on  the  27th,  the  Houses  were  adjourned  by  the  Queen's 
command  till  the  5th  of  November.  Nor  was  it  till  ten 
days  after  that,  that  any  motion  was  made  on  the  sub- 
ject of  suppl}^  All  the  principal  commonwealth  bills 
had  precedence.  The  way  was  led  by  a  bill  against  fore- 
stallers  and  regrators,  those  ancient  and  unconquerable 
offenders  with  whom  the  legislature  was  still  waging  an 
ineffectual  war.  Then  followed  a  motion  against  en- 
closures and  depopulation,  and  for  the  maintenance  of 
husbandry  and  tillage  —  a  measure  then  very  popular,  of 
which  I  shall  speak  further  presently.  Then  questions 
of  privileges  and  returns  —  the  House's  own  special  busi- 
ness. Next  day  (Monday,  7th  November)  came  a  bill 
to  take  away  benefit  of  clerg}^  in  cases  of  abduction  of 
women,  and  a  motion  "  touching  sundry  enormities  grow- 
ing by  patents  of  privilege  and  monopolies,"  which  was 


206  PARLIAMENT  OF  1597.  [Book  II. 

renewed  the  next  clay,  and  discussed  several  times  after- 
wards, without  any  intimation  that  it  was  an  interference 
with  the  prerogative.  On  the  8th  came  a  motion  for  the 
relief  of  the  people  from  the  obligation  to  keep  certain 
kinds  of  armor  and  weapons,  now  obsolete.  Then  a 
motion  "  for  the  abridging  and  reforming  of  the  exces- 
sive number  of  superfluous  and  burdensome  penal  laws.'* 
On  the  10th  a  question  was  raised  about  certain  abuses 
in  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  which  called  forth  a  message 
from  the  Queen,  not  now  to  imprison  the  member  who 
made  the  motion  or  to  forbid  the  Speaker  to  read  the 
bill,  but  to  command  the  House  to  prosecute  the  inquiry. 
On  the  11th  a  committee  was  appointed  for  continuance 
of  statutes.  On  the  12th  a  bill  was  brought  in  for  the 
increase  of  mariners  and  the  maintenance  of  navigation. 
On  the  14th  a  bill  for  the  suppression  of  robberies,  which 
had  been  brought  in  before,  but  I  do  not  know  on  wdiat 
day,  was  thrown  out  upon  the  second  reading.  On  the 
15th  a  bill  was  introduced  for  extirpation  of  beggars. 
After  which  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  moved  for 
a  committee  to  treat  and  consult  concerning  supply. 

As  nothing  could  be  more  decorous  than  the  order  of 
proceedings,  so  nothing  could  be  more  successful.  All 
went  smoothly.  No  difference  arose  which  caused  any 
embarrassment,  either  between  Hk^  parties  in  eithi'r 
House,  or  between  one  House  and  th(>,  other,  or  between 
either  of  tliem  and  the  Crown.  An  amount  of  supply, 
equal  to  that  given  by  the  last  Parliament  (which  was 
greater  than  any  Parliament  had  given  before),  was 
v<)t«Ml  without  a  dissentient  voice. 

The  laws  which  wen^  passed  bear  the  impress  of  the 
lime,  both  in  the  matters  dealt  with  ajid  the  mode  of 
dealing.  Jiut  th(!y  wen;  all  I'lnnied,  according  to  the  best 
p..litirnl  ecuiomy  of  tlie  day,  either  to  check  the  diseases 
or  to  imi)rove  th.;  general  lu-alth  of  society.  How  large 
a  space  in  their  deliberations  was  occupied  by  the  great 


1597-98.]  PARLIAMENT   OF   1597.  207 

problem  of  tlie  Relief  of  the  Poor,  may  be  inferred  from 
the  fact  that  on  the  22d  of  November  eleven  separate 
bills,  all  bearing  upon  that  subject,  were  referred  to  the 
same  committee ;  and  if  they  did  not  succeed  in  settUng 
the  question  forever,  they  placed  it  on  a  footing  on  which 
it  stood  for  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ;  and 
might  have  been  standing  now,  if  abuses  had  not  crept 
into  the  administration  of  it  for  which  its  authors  were 
not  responsible  ;  for  the  43d  of  Elizabeth,  chap.  2,  which 
has  been  called  the  "  great  charter  of  the  poor,  the  first 
ov>mprehensive  measure  of  legal  charity,"  is  only  the  39th 
of  Elizabeth,  chap.  3,  continued,  and  improved  in  some 
details.  In  principle  and  in  all  its  main  features  it  is  the 
same. 

In  this,  as  indeed  in  almost  every  measure  of  general 
policy  discussed  in  this  Parliament,  Bacon  appears  to 
have  been  more  or  less  engaged,  for  there  is  scarcely  a 
committee-list  in  which  his  name  does  not  appear.  But 
the  records  are  not  full  enough  to  show  the  part  he  took 
in  the  deliberations,  except  in  three  or  four  cases.  The 
motion  "  for  abridging  and  reforming  the  excessive  num- 
ber of  superfluous  and  burdensome  penal  laws "  was 
seconded  by  him,  but  appears  to  have  dropped  or  merged 
in  an  ordinary  "  Continuance "  Act.  An  act  for  the 
"  increase  of  mariners  for  the  service  and  defense  of  the 
realm"'  led  to  conferences  with  the  Lords,  some  of  which 
were  reported  by  him  to  the  Commons.  But  in  the  acts 
for  the  prevention  of  enclosures  and  the  maintenance  of 
tillage  he  appears  to  have  had  the  chief  management, 
and  a  fragment  of  his  introductory  speech  has  been  pre- 
served. Of  these  measures  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
give  a  more  particular  account,  the  rather  because  the 
changes  which  have  intervened,  not  only  in  opinion  on 
such  questions  but  in  the  essential  conditions  of  the 
case,  make  it  difficult  in  these  days  to  understand  their 
true  ini[)ort. 


208  PARLIAMENT  OF  1597.  [Book  II. 

They  wei'e  meant  to  give  effect  to  a  measure  introduced 
originally  by  Henr}'^  VH.,  and  as  Bacon  himself  in  his 
later  life  drew  attention  to  that  measure  as  a  specimen 
of  profound  legislation,  and  explained  at  large  the  ob- 
jects, provisions,  and  operation  of  it,  I  cannot  introduce 
the  subject  better  than  by  quoting  his  remarks. 

"Another  statute  was  made  of  singular  policy,  for  the 
population  apparently,  and  (if  it  l)e  thoroughly  considered) 
for  the  soldieiy  and  niilitar  forces  of  the  realm.  En- 
closures at  that  time  began  to  be  more  frequent,  whereby 
arable  land  (which  could  not  be  manured  without  people 
and  families)  was  turned  into  pasture,  which  was  easily 
rid  by  a  few  herdsmen  ;  and  tenancies  for  years,  lives, 
and  at  will  (whereupon  much  of  the  yeomanry  lived) 
were  turned  into  demesnes.  This  bred  a  decay  (jf  peo- 
ple, and  by  consequence  a  decay  of  towns,  churches, 
tithes,  and  the  like.  The  King  likewise  knew  full  well, 
and  in  nowise  forgot,  that  there  ensued  withal  upon  this 
a  decay  and  diminution  of  subsidies  and  taxes  ;  for  the 
more  gentlemen  ever  tiie  lower  books  of  subsidies.  In 
remedying  of  this  inconvenience,  the  King's  wisdom  was 
admirable,  and  the  Parliament's  at  that  time.  Enclos- 
wvv.H  tlu;y  would  not  forbid,  for  that  had  been  to  forbid 
the.  improvement  of  the  patrimony  of  the  kingdom  :  nor 
tillage  they  would  not  compel,  for  that  was  to  strive  with 
nature  and  utility ;  but  they  took  a  courses  to  take  away 
depopulating  enclosures  and  depopulating  pasturage,  and 
yet  not  that  by  name,  or  by  any  imp(;rious  express  ])r()- 
hibition,  but  by  consequence.  The  oi'dinance  was.  That 
all  houses  of  husi)andry  that  wer<^  used  with  twenty 
acres  of  ground  .iiid  upwards  should  b(»  niainlaiui'd  and 
kept  u])  fort'VtT  ;  together  with  a  competent  proportion 
of  land  to  be  used  and  oc<-npied  with  them,  and  in  nowise 
to  be  severed  from  them  (as  by  another  statute,  made 
afterwards  in  his  suec«!ssor's  time,  was  more  fully  d(!- 
clared)  :   this  upon  forfeiture  to  be  taken,  not  by  way  of 


1597-98.]        LAWS  FOR  MAINTENANCE  OF   HUSBANDRY.  209 

popular  action,  but  by  seizure  of  the  land  itself  by  the 
king  and  lords  of  the  fee,  as  to  half  the  profits,  till  the 
houses  and  lands  were  restored.  By  this  means  the 
houses  being  kept  up  did  of  necessity  enforce  a  dweller, 
and  the  proportion  of  land  for  occupation  being  kept  up 
did  of  necessity  enforce  that  dweller  not  to  be  a  beggar 
or  cottager,  but  a  man  of  some  substance,  that  might 
keep  hinds  and  servants  and  set  the  plough  on  going. 
This  did  wonderfully  concern  the  might  and  mannerhood 
of  the  kingdom,  to  have  farms  as  it  were  of  a  standard 
sufficient  to  maintain  an  able  body  out  of  penury,  and 
did  in  effect  amortise  a  great  part  of  the  lands  of  the 
kingdom  unto  the  hold  and  occupation  of  the  yeomanry 
or  middle-people,  of  a  condition  between  gentlemen  and 
cottagers  or  peasants.  Now  how  much  this  did  advance 
the  militar  power  of  the  kingdom  is  apparent  by  the 
true  principles  of  war  and  the  examples  of  other  king- 
doms. For  it  hath  been  held  by  the  general  opinion  of 
men  of  best  judgment  in  the  wars  (howsoever  some  few 
have  varied,  and  that  it  may  receive  some  distinction  of 
case)  that  the  principal  strength  of  an  army  consisteth 
in  the  infantry  or  foot.  And  to  make  good  infantry  it 
requireth  men  bred  not  in  a  servile  or  indigent  fashion, 
but  in  some  free  and  plentiful  manner.  Therefore  if  a 
state  run  most  to  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  and  that  the 
husbandmen  or  ploughmen  be  but  as  their  work-folks  or 
laborers,  or  else  mere  cottagers  (which  are  but  housed 
beggars),  you  may  have  a  good  cavalry,  but  never  good 
stable  bands  of  foot ;  like  to  coppice-woods  that  if  you 
leave  in  them  staddles  too  thick,  they  will  run  to  bushes 
and  briars  and  have  little  clean  underwood.  And  this  is 
to  be  seen  in  France  and  Italy  (and  some  other  parts 
abroad),  where  in  effect  all  is  noblesse  or  peasantry  (I 
speak  of  people  out  of  towns),  and  no  middle  people  ; 
and  therefore  no  good  forces  of  foot ;  insomuch  as  they 
a.re    enforced   to    employ   mercenary  bands    of    Switzers 

VOL.    I.  14 


210  LAWS   FOR  MAINTENANCE  OF  HUSBANDRY.      [Book  II. 

(and  the  like)  for  their  battahoiis  of  foot.  Wliereby  it 
also  comes  to  pass  that  these  nations  have  much  people 
and  few  soldiers.  Whereas  the  King  saw  that  contrari- 
wise it  would  follow  that  England,  though  much  less  in 
territory,  yet  should  have  infinitely  more  soldiers  of  their 
native  forces  than  those  other  nations  have.  Thus  did 
the  King  secretly  sow  Hydra's  teeth,  whereupon  (accord- 
ing to  the  poet's  fiction)  should  rise  up  armed  men  for 
the  service  of  this  kingdom."  ^ 

Now  when  we  remember  that  in  those  days  there  was 
no  standing  army,  and  that  in  case  of  war,  either  at  home 
or  abroad,  success  depended  upon  the  fitness  and  readiness 
of  the  general  population  of  the  countr}'^  to  turn  soldiers, 
we  see  that  the  keeping  up  of  a  supply  of  the  stuff  out  of 
which  soldiers  are  made  was  an  object  of  primary  national 
importance.  It  was  also  one  which  tlie  legislature  had 
to  look  after,  for  in  the  natural  course  of  suppl}^  and  de- 
mand it  was  sure  to  be  left  unprovided  for.  The  wealth 
of  the  countr}',  its  total  stock  both  of  men  and  of  the 
things  m(;n  want,  would,  I  suppose,  have  been  increased 
rather  than  diminished  by  the  })rocess  which  was  going 
on;  the  more  luxuries  the  more  labor;  the  more  labor 
the  more  ])eople  ;  the  more  people  the  more  food  ;  and 
therefore  the;  increase  of  ])rovision  for  times  of  ])eace 
would  have  been  best  cared  for  by  leaving  each  man  to 
help  himscll'  according  to  his  own  appetite  and  means. 
Not  so  for  times  of  war.  That  was  a  chance  which 
neither  the  buyer  nor  the  seller  was  providing  for  or  think- 
ing of.  It  did  not  coticern  them  for  the  present;  and  to 
providti  for  the  futui-e,  tliough  it  was  all  men's  intcMvst, 
was  no  man's  business.  IIim'*;  therefore  the  legislature 
Bt(>|is  in,  not  to  teach  p(iople  how  to  get  what  they  are  all 
pursuing,  but  to  ])rev(!nt  th(nn  from  losing  sonu^thing, 
whi(rh  when  lost  tluiy  will  41II  U'.i-\  I  lie  want  of,  but  if  hjft 
to  ihcinsclvcs  thr>y  will  certaiidy  Utt  slip. 

"   //iW.  ff/frnry  VII.,  Works,  ii.,  Pari  I.,  j.p.  I42-N5 


1597-98.]  ANOTHER  TRIPLE   SUBSIDY   GRANTED.  211 

The  difficulty,  in  this  as  in  all  such  cases,  was  to  en- 
force the  provisions  of  a  law  made  to  counteract  a  natural 
tendency  of  civilization.  In  spite  of  Henry  VII. 's  Act, 
"sundry  towns,  parishes,  and  houses  of  husbandry  had 
of  late  years  been  destroyed  and  become  desolate  ;  "  ^  and 
the  conditions  of  the  time  being  well  fitted  to  remind 
statesmen  of  the  importance  of  the  policy,  Bacon  com- 
menced the  session  with  a  motion  for  leave  to  bring  in 
two  bills  on  the  subject.  Of  his  speech  we  have  only  a 
meagre  and  obviously  inaccurate  report,  little  better,  I 
suspect,  than  a  string  of  fragments  of  sentences  connected 
by  transitional  words  to  make  them  read  grammaticall3\ 

The  notices  of  these  bills  in  the  Journals,  as  they 
passed  through  their  several  stages,  show  that  Bacon  was 
the  chief  manager  of  them,  and  that  they  were  "  well 
liked  by  the  House  ;"  but  we  have  no  particulars  of  the 
debates,  nor  is  there  anything  in  the  acts  themselves,  so 
far  as  I  can  see,  upon  which  it  is  worth  while  to  dwell. 

Of  the  history  of  tlie  Subsidy  Bill,  we  learn  from  the 
Journals  little  more  than  that  the  first  motion  was  made 
by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  on  the  15th  of  No- 
vember, who  stated  that  the  Queen  had  been  obliged  to 
spend  in  the  defense  of  the  kingdom  more  than  thrice 
the  amount  of  the  last  grant ;  that  it  was  seconded  by 
Sir  Robert  Cecil,  who  showed  at  large  the  designs  and 
attempts  of  the  King  of  Spain  since  the  last  Parliament ; 
that  after  speeches  in  support  of  it  from  Sir  Edward 
Hoby  and  Mr.  Francis  Bacon, a  committee  was  appointed  ; 
that  upon  their  report,  made  on  the  19th,  the  House 
agreed  to  a  grant  of  three  subsidies  and  six  fifteenths  and 
tenths,  the  same  as  was  voted  by  the  last  Parliament, 
but  payable  this  time  in  three  years  instead  of  four  ; 
that  on  the  21st  the  articles  were  read,  approved,  and 
delivered  to  the  Solicitor  that  he  might  "  draw  the 
book ; "  that   the   Bill    passed   its  first    reading   on  the 

1  Preamble  to  the  Act  of  1597. 


212  ESSEX-S  JEALOUSIES   AND   DISCONTENTS.         [Book  II. 

7th  of  December,  its  second  on  the  10th,  and  its  third 
on  the  14th  ;  that  it  met  with  no  obstruction,  and  was 
presented  to  the  Queen  at  the  close  of  the  session  by  the 
Speaker  as  a  gift  granted  "I  hope  and  think  without 
the  thought  of  a  No  ;  sure  I  am  without  the  word  of  a 
No."  A  fact  from  which  we  cannot,  I  think,  infer  less, 
than  that  the  apprehensions  entertained  by  Bacon  with 
regard  to  the  bill  of  1593  had  not  been  justified  by  the 
event,  and  that  the  people  had  been  found  well  enough 
able  to  bear  the  double  payment.  If  it  had  caused  any 
material  discontent  in  the  country,  it  is  hardly  conceiva- 
ble that  there  should  have  been  no  member  in  the  House 
to  represent  that  discontent. 

The  Earl  of  Essex  returned  to  Court  from  his  island 
voyage  on  the  29th  of  October.  A  week  after,  we  hear 
that  "  for  himself  he  is  already  disquieted,  keeps  in,  and 
went  not  this  day  to  the  Parliament."  It  was  the  begin- 
ning of  another  fit  of  discontent,  which  was  to  last  nearly 
two  months. 

The  reason  was  partly,  no  doubt,  the  reception  wliich 
his  last  service  met  with  from  the  Queen,  who  was  (very 
naturally,  I  think)  but  ill  satisfied  with  his  management 
of  it.  But  he  had  other  griefs  which  he  could  still  worse 
endure.  In  his  absence  Sir  Robert  Cecil  had  been  made 
Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster ;  and  on  the  23d 
of  October,  "  as  the  Queen  came  from  the  chapel,  she 

created   my  Lord  Admiral   Earl  of   Nottingham 

Her  Majesty  made  a  speech  unto  him  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  services,  and  Mr.  Secretary  read  the  letter-s 
patents  aloud,  which  were  very  honorable:  all  his  great 
services  re<;ited  in  anno  8<S,  and  lately  at  Cales.  He  was 
to  take  his  place  id  Comes  dc,  Notthu/ham,  for  so  were 
the  words  in  his  ])atent."  This  Lord  Admiral  was 
Charles  Baron  Howard  of  Ellingham  ;  a  man  more  than 
twice  as  old  as  Essex,  who  had  never  been  his  enemy, 
who  liad  done  good  service  and  held  liigh  offices  in  peace 


1597-98.]         ESSEX'S   JEALOUSIES   AND    DISCONTENTS.  213 

and  war  before  Essex  was  a  man,  and  was  now  too  old 
for  active  work  at  sea.  It  seems  strange  that  a  man  who 
had  any  real  nobleness  of  nature  (as  Essex  certainly 
had)  should  have  looked  upon  the  honoring  of  such  a 
person  only  as  a  wrong  to  himself :  stranger  still,  that  at 
the  distance  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  admiring 
biographers  should  repeat  the  complaint  and  parade  the 
injury,  without  seeing  what  an  unworthy  thing  they  are 
making  of  him.  About  the  fact,  however,  I  fear  there  is 
no  doubt.  Such  imputations,  when  they  only  rest  on 
popular  report,  I  am  apt  enough  to  discredit.  Friends  as 
well  as  enemies  impute  to  others  the  feelmgs  which  in 
like  circumstances  would  have  been  their  own.  And  the 
offense  which  Essex  is  reported  to  have  taken  at  Sir  Rob- 
ert Cecil's  appointment  has,  I  dare  say,  no  better  founda- 
tion. But  in  the  case  of  the  Lord  Admiral  the  trial  was 
harder  and  the  evidence  is  more  circumstantial.  Hia 
elevation  touched  Essex  personally  in  two  points.  The 
glory  of  the  Cadiz  action  was  regarded  hj  him  as  his 
own  exclusive  property.  It  was  true  that  Effingham, 
being  commander-in-chief  by  sea,  held  an  equal  position : 
and  in  a  victory  by  land  and  sea  forces  combined,  the 
honor  w^ould  naturally  be  shared  equally  by  both,  which 
the  patent  expressed.  Nevertheless,  in  popular  opinion 
and  in  his  own,  Essex  had  been  the  sole  hero  of  that 
victory ;  and  all  that  the  others  had  done  was  to  hinder 
him  from  following  it  up  by  capturing  the  treasure-fleet 
on  its  return  ;  so  that  to  attribute  to  the  Lord  High  Ad- 
miral a  joint  share  in  the  action,  was  to  cancel  half  his 
property  in  it.  But  besides  this,  the  patent  involved  by 
consequence  a  question  of  precedency.  By  the  31  Hen. 
VIII.  c.  10,  certain  officers,  among  whom  was  the  Lord 
High  Admiral,  took  precedence  of  all  other  personages  of 
the  same  degree.  Consequently  the  Lord  High  Admiral, 
who  while  he  was  a  baron  sat  below  the  Earl  of  Essex, 
now  that  they  were  both   earls,  would   sit  above   him. 


214  ESSEX   PACIFIED.  [B.u)k  II. 

These  indignities  were  too  much  for  his  spirit.  He 
would  not  appear  in  Parliament,  in  Council,  or  in  Court. 
On  the  Queen's  Day  (ITth  of  November)  he  was  re- 
ported to  be  very  sick.  On  the  80th  he  was  still  keep- 
ing aloof.  On  the  21st  of  December,  however,  we  are 
told  that  "the  gallant  Earl  doth  now  show  himself  in 
more  public  sort  than  he  did ;  and  he  is  purposed  to  have 
the  patent  of  the  late-created  earl  altered,  who  abso- 
lutely refuses  to  consent  to  it."  "  The  Queen,"  it  seems, 
"  by  this  patience  and  long-suffering  of  my  Lord  Essex, 
was  grown  to  consider  and  understand  better  the  wrong 
done  unto  him."  "I  hear"  (continues  the  same  re- 
porter, in  the  next  paragraph  of  the  same  letter)  "  that 
my  Lord  Essex  desires  to  have  right  done  unto  him, 
either  by  a  commission  to  examine  it,  or  by  combat  either 
ag-iinst  the  Earl  of  Nottingham  or  any  of  his  sons  or  of 
his  name  that  will  defend  it.  Or  that  her  Majesty  will 
please  to  see  the  wrong  done  unto  him  ;  and  so  will  he 
suffer  himself  to  be  commanded  by  her  as  she  please  her- 
self. Here  is  such  ado  about  it,  as  it  troubles  this  place 
and  all  other  proceedings.  Sir  Walter  Ralegh  is  em- 
ployed by  the  Queen  to  end  this  quarrel  and  to  make  an 
atonement  between  them.  But  this  is  the  resolution  of 
Lord  Essex,  not  to  yield  but  with  altering  the  patent, 
which  cannot  be  done  but  by  persuasion  to  bring  the 
]'2arl  of  Nottingham  unto  it." 

I  give  the  story  in  the  words  of  the  eontcmi^orary  re- 
porter (who  writes  simply  and  s(M-iously,  without  any 
touch  of  irony),  because  it  is  difliciilt  to  tell  it  in  one's 
own  without  some  color  from  the  feeling  wlTu-h  it  excites, 
lint  that  tliis  was  the  real  ground  of  offense  secMus  indis- 
])iit!ible,  especially  when  we  correct  the  narrative  by 
introducing  a  fact  which  llu'  writer  did  not  then  know 
of,  l)nt  which  supplies  tlu^  tru(^  explanation  of  Essex's 
ri-appt-arance  in  })ublic.  Among  tiie  offices  which  gave 
precedence  abovc  all  persons  of  equal  degree,  that  of  Earl 


1597-98.]         MASTER  OF  THE  ORDNANCE.  215 

Marshal  came  before  that  of  Lord  High  Admiral.  Now, 
on  the  18th  pf  December,  three  days  before,  Essex 
had  been  created  by  patent  Earl  jMarshal  of  England, 
and  he  was  happ}^  again. 

In  Rawley's  edition  of  Bacon's  "Collection  of  Apoph- 
thegms "  ^  we  find  the  following  anecdote:  "A  great 
officer  at  Court,  when  my  Lord  of  Essex  was  first  in 
trouble,  and  that  he  and  those  that  dealt  for  him  would 
talk  much  of  my  Lord's  friends  and  of  his  enemies,  an- 
swered one  of  them,  I  u'ill  tell  you^  I  know  hut  one  friend 
and  one  enemy  my  Lord  hath  ;  and  that  one  friend  is  the 
Queen^  and  that  one  enemy  is  himself. ^^  The  truth  of  the 
remark  could  not  have  been  better  illustrated  than  by 
these  last  quarrels  and  the  issue  of  them.  It  must  have 
been  a  very  singular  personal  charm  which  in  a  temper 
and  judgment  like  the  Queen's  could  so  often  prevail 
over  such  trials  as  he  put  them  to.  His  last  quarrel  had 
made  him  Master  of  the  Ordnance  ;  this  has  made  him 
Earl  Marshal ;  the  very  offices  which  Bacon,  in  October, 
1596,  had  tried  to  dissuade  him  from  seeking,  as  being 
most  likely  to  bring  him  into  trouble.  Judging  indeed 
by  the  immediate  event,  it  might  seem  that  he  knew 
best  what  he  was  about.  But  to  those  friends  who  had 
watched  his  proceedings  in  the  meantime,  it  could  only 
have  been  a  respite  from  anxiety ;  one  more  danger 
escaped ;  one  more  chance  of  striking  into  a  safer  path. 

Bacon,  whom  even  the  splendid  success  of  Cadiz  had 
not  deceived  into  the  belief  that  war  was  a  fit  vocation 
for  him,  who  had  urged  him  to  use  that  glory  as  an 
honorable  resting-place,  and  to  aspire  after  another  kind 
of  greatness,  could  not  be  altered  in  opinion  by  the 
results  of  the  island  voyage.  Another  chance  was  now 
offered,  and  several  accidents  concurred  to  favor  it. 

Philip  H.  of  Spain  had  begun  to  feel  that  he  was 
dying,  and  was  anxious  to  wind  up  his  many  businesses 

1  Resuscitatio,  ed.  1G61. 


216  IRISH  AFFAIRS.  [B'JOK  II. 

and  transmit  a  settled  kingdom  to  his  son.     Henry  IV. 
of  France  was  longing  to   give  his  kingdom  rest  after 
twelve  years  of  war,  and  try  his  hand  at  the  arts  of  peace. 
He   had  just  retaken  Amiens,  and  finding  Philip  walUng 
to  come  to  terms,  was  loath  to  forego  so  advantageous 
an  opportunity.     But  his  former  necessities  had  involved 
him  in  alliances  and  obligations  with  England  and  the 
Netherland  States,  which  gave  them  both  a  right  to  in- 
terfere.    England,  as  far  as  she  was  herself  concerned, 
might  have  been   glad  enough   to  join  in  a  peace;  for 
towards  Spain  she  stood  at  advantage,  while  in  Ireland 
she  had  a  difficult  business  on  hand.     But  she  could  not 
leave  the  States  in  the  lurch,  and  Spain  being  released 
from   France   would   be  the  harder  to  deal  wdth.     This 
made   it    necessary   to    send   a   first-rate   ambassador   to 
Henry,  to  represent  her  case  and  remind  him  of  his  en- 
gagements.    On  w^hich  mission  Sir  Robert  Cecil  was  dis- 
patched in   the    middle    of    February,  1597-8.      In   the 
meantime  the  affairs  of  Ireland  had  become  very  critical. 
The  Earl  of  Tyrone  —  a  man  of  Irish  genius  improved 
by  English  cultivation,  a  soldier  of  tried  valor  and  full 
of  resources,  combining  with  shameless  facility  in  break- 
ino-  or  evading  promises  past   an  extraordinary  power  of 
inducing  people  to  accept  his  promises  for  the  future  — 
had  now  been  for  three  years  in  open  rebellion,  suspended 
only  by  truces,  which  tlie  government  was  at  all  times 
only  too  ready  to  grant  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  liis 
grievances  and  his  offers  of  submission.     Certain  arbi- 
trary proceedings  of  Sir  William  Fitzwilliams,  v.ho  was 
Lord  Deputy  from  1590  to  1594,  suppUed  him  with  some 
phiusible  grounds  of  comphvint  and  some  color  for  alleg- 
ing fear  of  pcn-sonal  danger  as  his  motive  for  taking  up 
arms;  upon  which  he  was  always  ready  with  a  case  for 
the  con.sideratioii  of  a  new  Lord  Deputy,  and  for  refer- 
ence to  the  English  goviu-nment.     Sir  John  Norruys,  the 
greatest  soldier   of  his   time,  sent  out  as  Lord  General 


1597-98.]  IRISH  AFFAIRS.  217 

in  1595,  —  Sir  W.  Russell,  with  whom  he  did  not 
well  agree,  being  Lord  Deputy,  —  after  two  years  spent 
chiefly  in  fruitless  negotiations,  was  by  the  appointment 
of  a  new  Lord  Deputy  with  supreme  authority  for 
war  as  well  as  peace  superseded,  and  died  soon  after  of 
a  broken  heart,  it  was  thought ;  of  heart-disease  likely 
enough,  for  brave  men  do  die  of  that.  Lord  Burgh,  by 
whom  he  was  superseded,  beginning  with  a  resolution  to 
hsten  to  no  treaties,  but  to  march  directly  against  the 
principal  stronghold  of  the  rebellion,  died  suddenly  on 
the  march,  thus  leaving  another  interregnum,  of  which 
Tyrone  knew  how  to  make  use.  The  civil  government 
being  now  (October,  1597)  provisionally  entrusted  to  two 
Lords  Justices,  and  the  command-in- chief  of  martial  af- 
fairs to  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  Tyrone  opened  afresh  his 
old  budget  of  grievances  and  promises,  and  was  admitted 
to  a  meeting  at  Dundalk  ;  where,  upon  offers  of  submis- 
sion, protestations  of  penitence,  entreaties  for  pardon, 
etc.,  a  truce  of  eight  weeks  dating  from  the  22d  of  De- 
cember was  accorded,  that  his  case  might  be  laid  before 
the  Queen. 

It  was  during  this  time,  I  suppose,  and  while  these 
matters  were  under  consideration  of  the  Council  in  Eng- 
land, that  the  next  letter  was  written. 

The  Earl  of  Essex  was  now  on  good  terms  again  with 
everybody.  The  Qiieen  (at  the  instance,  it  was  thought, 
of  Sir  Robert  Cecil)  had  on  the  10th  of  February,  1597- 
98,  made  him  a  present  of  £7,000  worth  of  cochineal, 
part  of  the  booty  of  the  island  voj^age ;  and  on  the  15th 
we  hear  of  his  "  giving  very  diligent  attendance  upon  the 
Queen,  and  in  some  sort  taking  upon  him  the  dispatch- 
ing of  all  business,  in  the  absence  of  the  Secretary,  that 
concerns  her  Majesty's  service."  This  was  exactly  the 
position  in  which  Bacon  most  wished  to  see  him,  and 
although  Essex  had  begun  to  tire  of  asking  counsel  from 
one  who  was  always  advising  him  not  to  do  the  thing  he 


218  IRISH  AFFAIRS.  [Boor  II. 

was  bent  on   doing,  and  had  not  of  late  consulted  bim  as 
he  used  to  do,i  it  seems  that  he  now  found  or  made  an 
occasion  to  represent  to  him  the  value  of  the  opportunity, 
and  exhort  him  to  improve  it.     The  Irish  difficulty,  un- 
fortunate  in  all   other  respects,  might  prove  very  fortu- 
nate for  him  if  be  could  be  induced  to  take  it  by  the 
right  handle,  that  is,  to  address  himself  earnestly^  to  it 
in   Council.     Bacon   had  opened  the   matter    to  him  in 
conversation,  and  now  fodowed  it  up  in  a  letter,  wliich 
(like  several  others  we  shall  meet  with)  has   been  pre- 
served  through    two  independent  channels   and   in  two 
different  forms  ;  one  in   the  collection   kept  by  himself, 
and  printed  by  Rawley  in  the  "  Resuscitatio  :  "  the  other 
in    a   collection   made  we  do  not   know  by  wliom,  and 
printed   very  incorrectly  in  the  "  Remains  "  (1648)  and 
afterwards  in  the  "  Cabala  "  (1654).     I  imagine   that  in 
writing  letters   of   importance,  Bacon   made  first  a  draft 
and  then  a  fair  copy  ;  that  in   copying,  alterations  sug- 
gested themselves,  which  he  did  not  at  the  time  take  the 
trouble  to   enter  in   the  draft ;  and  that  his  own  collec- 
tion was  made  from  the  drafts,  while  that  in   the  '  Re- 
mains '  was  from  the   letters  tlunnselves  that  were  sent. 
The  differences  are  exactly  such  as  would  naturally  arise 
under  such   a  process,   and   therefore  both  versions    are 
worth  preserving. 

1  The  eslraiigonicnt  must  have  begun  in  the  autumn  of  151)7,  if  Bacon's  rec- 
ollection seven  or  eight  years  after  can  be  trusted  for  the  dates.  "  ™s  ^'f' 
ference"  (he  savs  in  his  Apoloyy)  "in  two  points  so  main  and  material  bred 
in  process  of  time  a  discontinuance  of  privateness  (as  it  is  the  manner  of  men 
Bcldom  to  communicate  when  they  think  theircourses  are  not  ai.proved)  between 
his  Lordship  and  myself,  so  as  I  was  not  called  nor  advised  with  for  some  year 
and  a  half  b.-f.,re  his  Lordship's  going  into  Ireland,  as  in  former  time."  Essex 
arrived  in  Dublin  on  the  15th  of  April,  1599,  about  fourteen  months  after  the 
date  oflhe  next  letter. 


1597-98.]  ADVICE  TO  ESSEX.  219 

A  LETTER  OF  ADVICE  TO  THE  EARL  OF  ESSEX,  TO 
TAKE  UPON  HIM  THE  CARE  OF  IRISH  CAUSES,  WHEN 
MR.    SECRETARY   CECIL   V\rAS    IN   FRANCE. 

My  SINGULAR  GOOD  LoRD,  —  I  do  write,  because  I 
had  no  time  fully  to  express  my  conceit  to  your  Lordship,^ 
toucliing  Irish  affairs,  considering  them  as  they  may  con- 
cern yonr    Lordship ;    knowing   that   you  will  consider 
them  as  they  may  concern  the  state.     That  it  is  one  of 
the   aptest   particulars  ^    for  your   Lordship   to   purchase 
honor  upon,  I  am    moved   to   think   for   three   reasons. 
Because  it  is  ingenerate  in  your  house,  in  respect  of  my 
Lord  your  father's  noble  attempts :  because  of  all  the  ac- 
tions of  state  on  foot  at  this  time,  the  labor  resteth  most  in 
that  particular :  and  because  the  Avorld  will  make  a  kind 
of  comparison  between  those  that  have  set  it  out  of  frame 
and  those  that  shall  bring  it  into  frame :  which  kind  of 
honor  giveth  the  quickest  kind  of  reflexion.     The  trans- 
ferring this  honor  upon  yourself  consisteth  in  two  points  : 
the  one,  if  the  principal  persons  employed  come  in  by 
you  and  depend  upon  you  ;  the  other,  if  your  Lordship 
declare  yourself  and  profess  to  have  a  care  of  that  king- 
dom.^    For  the   persons,   it  falleth  out   well   that  your 
Lordship  hath  had  no  interest  in  the  persons  of  imputa- 
tion.    For  neither  Sir  William  Fitzwilliams  nor  Sir  John 
Norris  was   yours.     Sir  William  Russell  was   conceived 
yours,  but  was  curbed.     Sir  Coniers  Clifford  (as  I  con- 
ceive it)  dependeth  on  you,  who  is  said  to  do  well.     And 
if  my  Lord  of  Ormond,  in  the  interim,  do  accommodate 
things  well  (as  it  is  said  he  doth),  I  take  it  he  hath 
always  had  good  understanding  with  your  Lordship.     So 
as  all  things  hitherto  are  not  only  whole  and  entire,  but 

1  "Because  I  have  not  yet  had  time  fully  to  express  my  conceit,  nor  now  to 
attend  .vou."  — Rem.  and  Cab. 

2  "One  of  the  aplest  particulars,  that  hath  come  or  can  coine  upmi  the  stage, 
for,"  etc.  —  R.  and  C- 

8  "Declare  yourself  to  undertake  a  care  of  tliat  matter."  —  li.  rind  C- 


220  ADVICE  TO  ESSEX.  [Book  II. 

of  favorable  aspect  towards  your  Lordship,  if  hereafter 
YOU  choose  well.i  Concerning  the  care  of  the  business, 
the  general  and  popular  conceit  hath  been,  that  Irish 
causes  have  been  much  neglected ;  whereby  the  reputa- 
tion of  better  care  will  put  life  into  them.^  But  for  a 
beginning  and  key  to  that  which  shall  follow,  it  were 
good  your  Lordship  would  have  some  large  and  serious 
(conference  with  Sir  William  Russell,  Sir  Richard  Bing- 
liam,  the  Earl  of  Toumond,  and  Mr.  Wilbraham,  to  know 
their  relation  of  the  past,  their  opinion  of  tlie  present, 
and  their  advice  for  the  future. 

For  the  points  of  apposing  them,  I  am  too^  much  a 
stranger  to  the  business  to  deduce  them.  But  in  a  gen- 
eral topic,  methinks  the  pertinent  interrogations  must  be, 
either  of  tlie  possibility  and  means  of  accord,  or  of  the 
nature  of  the  war,  or  of  the  reformation  of  abuses,  or  of 
the  joining  of  practice  with  force  in  the  disunion  of  the 
rebels.  If  your  Lordship  doubt  to  put  your  sickle  into 
another's  harvest ;3  first,  time  brings  it  to  you  in  Mr. 
Secretary's   absence:    next,   being   mixt  with   matter  of 

1  The  copy  in  the  Remains  goes  on:  "Wherein  in  your  wisdom  ynu  will 
remember  there  is  a  great  difference  in  choice  of  the  persons,  as  you  sliall  tliinli 
the  affairs  to  incline  to  composition  or  to  war.  For  your  care-taking,  general 
and  popular  conceit,"  etc. 

2  The  Cabala  (following  tlie  Rcmnim,  with  some  corrections)  gives  it  thus: 
"  Whereby  the  very  reputation  of  better  care  will  be  a  strengtii.  And  I  am 
sure  her  Majesty  and  my  Lords  of  the  Council  do  not  think  their  care  dis- 
solved when  they  have  chosen  whom  to  employ;  but  that  they  will  proceed 
in  a  spirit  of  state,  and  not  leave  the  main  jioint  to  discretion.  Then  if  a 
res(,lution  be  taken,  a  consultation  [must  proceed,  and  the  consultation]  must 
be  governed  [f|y.  grounded]  upon  information  to  be  had  from  sucli  as  know  the 
place  and  matters  in  fact;  and  in  the  taking  of  information  I  have  always  noted 
there  is  a  skill  and  a  wisdom.  I'or  I  cannot  tell  what  account  or  nuiu.ry  hall. 
been  taken  of  Sir  William  Kussell,  and  of  Sir  K.  Bingham,  of  the  Karl  of  I  lo- 
pond  of  Mr.  Wilbraham.  Hut  I  am  of  opinion  much  more  would  be  had  of 
tl.em,'if  your  Lordship  shall  be  pleased  severally  to  confer,  not  ob,lcr,  but  ex- 
pressly upon  some  caveat  given  f  think  .,f  i.  h.U,y.:  for  h,nc  ,/.,nl  ,ju,  pru.len- 
ter  iiiterrof/al. 

"  For  the  points,"  i-U: 

3  "Yet  consider  vou  have  thes..  advantages.  First,  tinu'  b.^mg  lit  to  you  m 
Mr.  S-crelary's  absence:  next  rh  unila  fortiov ;  thirdly,  the  business  bciMg 
mixed  with  matters  of  war,  it  ia  fittest  for  you,"  etc.  —  Cab. 


1597-98.]  TREATY  WITH  TYRONE.  221 

war,  it  is  fittest  for  you :  and  lastly,  I  know  your  Lord- 
ship will  carry  it  with  that  modesty  and  respect  towards 
aged  dignity,  and  that  good  correspondence  towards  my 
dear  kinsman  and  your  good  friend  now  abroad,  as  no 
inconvenience  may  grow  that  way. 

Thus  have  I  played  the  ignorant  statesman,  which  I 
do  to  nobody  but  your  Lordship :  except  to  the  Queen 
sometimes  when  she  trains  me  on.  But  your  Lordship 
will  accept  my  duty  and  good  meaning,  and  secure  me 
touching  the  privateness  of  that  I  write. 

Upon  this  advice  the  Earl  appears  to  have  been  dis- 
posed to  act;  and  accordingly  to  have  communicated  to 
Bacon  the  last  intelligence  from  Ireland,  and  asked  his 
opinion. 

But  by  this  time  the  negotiation  had  advanced  a  step 
further.  Tyrone's  case  had  been  considered,  and  the 
Earl  of  Ormond  had  been  instructed  as  to  the  terms 
upon  which  his  pardon  would  be  granted.  "  And  now 
at  another  meeting  at  Dundalk,  on  the  loth  of  March, 
the  Lord  Lieutenant  signified  to  Tyrone  that  her  Majesty 
by  his  humble  submission  had  been  induced  again  to  re- 
ceive him  to  mercy,  and  to  give  him  and  all  the  inhab- 
itants of  Tyrone  her  gracious  pardon,  upon  conditions 
following  :  — 

1.  That  he  renew  his  humble  submission  to  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  in  some  public  place. 

2.  That  he  promise  due  obedience  of  a  subject,  and 
not  to  intermeddle  with  the  Irish,  nor  his  adherents,  not 
only  hereafter,  but  now  ;  lea\  ing  them  to  themselves, 
that  they  may  become  humble  suitors  for  their  own 
pardons;  in  which  case  it  is  promised  them  also. 

8.  That  he  disperse  his  forces  upon  receipt  of  his  par- 
don, and  dismiss  all  strangers,  Irish,  Scots,  or  others. 

4.  Tliat  lie  renounce  the  name  and  title  of  Oneale. 

5.  Not    to    intermeddle  with  her    Majesty's  Vriaghts 


222  TREATY   WITH  TYRONE.  [Book  U. 

(so  the  Irish  call  the  bordering  lords,  whom  the  Ulster 
tyrants  have  long  claimed  to  be  their  vassals). 

6.  Tliat  he  build  up  again,  at  his  own  charges,  the  fort 
and  bridge  of  Blackwater,  and  furnish  the  soldiers  with 
victuals,  as  formerly  he  did. 

7.  That  he  deliver  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  the  sons  of 
Shane  Oneale,  who  were  her  ^lajesty's  prisoners;  till 
breaking  out  they  fell  into  his  hands,  and  were  imprisoned 
by  him. 

8.  To  declare  faithfulh'  all  intelligence  with  Spain, 
and  to  leave  it. 

9.  That  he  receive  a  sheriff  for  Tyrone,  as  all  other 
countries  do. 

10.  That  he  put  in  his  eldest  son  for  pledge,  and  at 
all  times  come  to  the  State,  being  called. 

11.  That  he  pay  a  fine  in  part  of  satisfaction  for  his 
offense,  according  to  her  Majesty's  pleasui-e.  • 

12.  That  he  aid  no  rebel,  nor  meddle  with  the  inhab- 
itants on  the  east  side  of  the  Ban  ;  yet  so  as  ho  may 
enjoy  any  lands  or  leases  he  hath  there. 

13.  That  he  receive  not  any  disloyal  person,  but  send 
such  to  the  chief  governor.'' 

Of  these  articles  Tyrone  took  exceptions  to  the  5th, 
7th,  9th,  10th,  and  13th.  Such  duties  Jis  the  Vriaghts 
yi<.'lded  since  his  grandfather's  time  were  all  he  desired 
of  them:  but  these  he  still  claimed.  To  receive  a  sheriff 
he  did  n<jt  altogether  refuse  —  provided  lie  were  a  gen- 
tleman of  the  county :  but  "  craved  forbearance  for  a 
small  time."  TIk;  sons  of  Shane  Oneale,  whom  (being 
th«?  true  hfirs  of  the  Earldom  till  it  was  forfeited  by  their 
father's  rebellion)  it  was  important  to  him  to  keep,  he 
rcfiist'd  to  deliver  up  —  "  because  he  had  not  those 
prisoners  from  the  State."  He  refused  to  give  liis  eldest 
son  for  a  pledge :  and  stipulated  that  he  should  not  de- 
liver up  to  the  State  any  man  "  who  came  to  him  for 
cause  of  ef>MHcience."     'J'o    the   rest,    with   some   trifling 


1597-98.]    LETTER  OF  ADVICE  TO  THE  EARL   OF  ESSEX.         223 

reservations,  he  agreed.  Onl}'  be  asked  for  some  delay, 
in  order  that  "the  lords,  his  associates,  might  have  time 
to  assemble,"  according  to  the  second  article,  "  that  they 
might  therein  lay  no  imputation  on  him  :  "  —  whereupon 
the  Lord  Lieutenant  granted  him  further  day  till  the 
lOtb  of  April  following :  at  which  time  he  pledged  him- 
self, whether  they  appeared  or  not,  to  make  his  own  sub- 
mission. 

The  result  of  this  conference  was  of  course  immediately 
reported  to  the  government  at  home,  and  it  seems  that 
the  Council  in  Ireland  (having  had  old  experience  of 
Tyrone's  ways)  were  disposed  to  advise  that  the  treaty 
should  not  on  these  conditions  be  proceeded  with.  Such 
I  suppose  was  the  question  now  before  the  Council  in 
England,  —  such  the  state  of  things  upon  which  Essex 
now  asked  for  Bacon's  advice.  The  next  letter  contains 
his  answer,  and  must  be  supposed  therefore  to  have  been 
written  about  the  end  of  March,  1598. 

A  LETTER  OF  ADVICE  TO  THE  EARL  OF  ESSEX,  UPON 
THE  FIRST  TREATY  WITH  TYRONE,  1598,  BEFORE 
THE  EARL  WAS  NOMINATED  FOR  THE  CHARGE  OF 
IRELAND. 

My  VERY  GOOD  Lord,  —  Concerning  the  advertise- 
ments which  your  Lordship  imparted  to  me  touching  the 
state  of  Ireland,  for  willing  duty's  sake,^  I  will  set  down 
to  your  Lordship  what  opinion  sprang  in  my  mind  upon 
that  I  read. 

The  letter  from  the  counsel  there,  leaning  to  mistrust 
and  to  dissuade  the  treaty,'^  I  do  not  much  rely  on  for 
three  causes.     First,  because  it  is  always  the  grace  and 

1  The  copy  in  the  Remains  and.  the  Cabala  begins  thus:  "These  advertise 
nieiits  which  your  Lordship  imparted  to  me,  and  the  lilie,  I  hold  to  be  no  more 
certain  to  make  judgment  upon  than  a  patient's  water  to  a  pliysician;  therefore 
for  me  upon  one  water  to  make  a  judgment  were  indeed  like  a  foolish  bold 
■nountebank,  or  Dr.  Birket:  j'et  for  willing  duty's  sake,"  etc- 

■•^  Leaning  to  distrust,  I  do  not,  etc.  —  R.  and  C. 


224      LETTER  OF  ADVICE  TO  THE  EARL  OF  ESSEX.     [Bkok  IL 

the  safety  ^  of  such  a  counsel  to  err  in  caution  :  where- 
unto  add,  that  it  may  be  they,  or  some  of  them,  are  not 
without  envy  towards  the  person  who  is  used  in  treating 
the  accord.  Next,  because  the  time  of  this  treaty  hath 
no  show  of  dissimulation  ;  for  that  Tyrone  is  now  in  no 
straits :  but  he  is  more  like  a  gamester  that  will  give 
over  because  he  is  a  winner,  than  because  he  hath  no 
more  money  in  his  purse.  Lastly,  1  do  not  see  but  that 
those  articles  whereupon  they  ground  their  suspicion 
may  as  well  proceed  out  of  fear  as  out  of  falsehood.  For 
the  retaining  the  dependence  of  the  Vriaghts,  the  pro- 
tracting the  admission  of  a  sheriff,  the  refusing  to  give 
his  son  for  an  hostage,  the  holding  off  from  present  repair 
to  Dublin,  the  refusing  to  go  presently  to  accord  without 
including  Odonnell  and  other  his  associates,  may  very 
well  come  of  an  apprehension  ^  in  case  he  should  receive 
hard  measure,  and  not  out  of  treacher3\  So  as  if  the 
great  person  you  write  of  be  faithful,  and  that  you  have 
not  here^  some  present  intelligence  of  present  succors 
from  Spain  (for  the  expectation  wlieroof  Tyrone  would 
win  time),  I  see  no  deep  cause  of  distrusting  this  course 
of  treaty,  if  the  main  conditions  may  be  good.^  For  her 
Majesty  S(!emeth  to  me  to  be  a  winner  thereby  three  ways. 
First,  her  purse  shall  have  some  rest.  Next,  it  will  divert 
the  foreign  designs  upon  that  place.  Thirdly,  though 
her  Majesty  be  like  for  a  time  but  to  govern  precario 
in  the  north,  and  be  not  (as  to  a  true  command)  in  better 
state  there  than  before ;  yet,  besides  the  two  respects 
Df  eas(!  of  charge  and  advantage  of  opinion  abroad  before 
mentioned,  she  shall  have  a  time  to  use  her  j)rincely 
policy  in  two  ])oints  to  weaken  thou  :  llic  (me,  by  division 
and  disunion  of  thn  h<'ads  ;   (lie   other,  by  rcn-overing  and 

J   nnlli  tin;  grace  iiml  lliir  .snfcty  from  Ijlaiiie.  —  li.  and  C. 

2  A  Ki'i'O'  rcHcrvaliiMi.  —  li.  (twl  C. 

3  liifirtl :  IScM. 

*  Of  (lir«lrii!.liiig  tlic  rjiiisc  (f|y.  coursp)  if  it  be  j;ooil.      Ami  for  the  ([UPslion. 
tier  Majesty  )>ffmi'lli,  oti'.   -  R  nvl  C. 


1597-98.]      LETTER  OF  ADVICE  TO   THE  EARL  OF  ESSEX.       225 

winning  the  people  from  them  by  justice  :  which  of  all 
other  courses  is  the  best- 
Now  for  the  Athenian  question ;  you  discourse  well, 
Quid  igitur  agendum  est  f  I  will  shoot  my  fool's  bolt, 
since  you  will  have  it  so.  The  Earl  of  Ormond  to  be 
encouraged  and  comforted.  Above  all  things,  the  garri- 
sons instantly  to  be  provided  for.  For  opportunity  makes 
a  thief,  and  if  he  should  mean  never  so  well  now,  yet 
Buch  an  advantage  as  the  breaking  of  her  Majesty's  garri- 
sons might  tempt  a  true  man.  And  because  he  may  as 
well  waver  upon  his  own  inconstancy  as  upon  occasion 
(and  wanton  variableness  is  never  restrained  but  by 
fear),  I  hold  it  necessary  he  be  menaced  with  a  strong 
war,  not  by  words,  but  by  musters  and  preparations  of 
forces  here,  in  case  the  accord  proceed  not :  but  none  to 
be  sent  over,  lest  it  disturb  the  treaty,  and  make  him 
look  to  be  over-run  as  soon  as  he  hath  laid  awa}^  arms. 
And  but  that  your  Lordship  is  too  easy  to  pass  in  such 
cases  from  dissimulation  to  verity,  I  think  if  your  Lord- 
ship lent  your  reputation  in  this  case, —  that  is,  to  pre- 
tend that  if  peace  go  not  on,  and  the  Queen  mean  not  to 
make  a  defensive  war  as  in  times  past,  but  a  full  recon- 
quest  1  of  those  parts  of  the  country,  you  would  accept 
the  charge,  —  I  think  it  would  help  to  settle  Tyrone  in 
his  seeking  accord,  and  win  you  a  great  deal  of  honor 
gratis. 

And  (that  which  most  properly  concerns  this  action, 
if  it  prove  a  peace)  I  think  her  Majesty  shall  do  well  to 
cure  the  root  of  the  disease ;  and  to  profess,  by  a  com- 
mission of  peaceable  men  of  respect  and  countenance,  a 
reformation  of  abuses,  extortions,  and  injustices    there ; 

1  The  copy  in  the  Remains  has  :  "It  is  to  pretend  that  if  a  defensive  war 
as  in  times  past,  but  a  wofull  reconquest  of  those  parts  in  the  country,  you 
would  accept  the  charge." 

The  Cnbala  gives  :  "It  is  to  pretend  that  if  not  a  defensive  war  as  in 
times  past,  but  a  full  reconquest  of  those  parts  of  the  countrj'  be  resolved  on, 
you  would  accept  the  charge."     Which  looks  like  a  conjectural  emendation. 

VOL.    I.  15 


226  TYRONE'S  PARDON.  [Book  n. 

and  to  plant  a  stronger  and  surer  government  than  here- 
tofore, for  the  ease  and  protection  of  the  subject.  For 
the  removhig  of  the  sword  or  government  in  arms  from 
the  Earl  of  Ormond,  or  the  sending  of  a  deputy  (which 
will  eclipse  it,  if  peace  follow),  I  think  it  unseasonable.^ 
Lastly,  I  hold  still  my  opinion  (both  for  your  better 
information,  and  the  fuller  declaration  of  your  care  and 
meddling  in  this  urgent  and  meriting  service)  that  j-our 
Lordship  have  a  set  conference  with  the  persons  I  named 
in  my  former  letter. 

What  part  Essex  took  in  the  subsequent  deliberations 
I  do  not  know,  nor  have  we  any  detailed  account  of  the 
measures  which  were  taken  in  the  exigency.  We  hear 
only  that  about  the  middle  of  jNIarch,  Sir  Thomas  Cecil, 
Sir  William  Russell,  Sir  Walter  Ralegh,  and  Sir  R.  Bing- 
ham, were  calUjd  and  consulted  :  that  order  was  taken 
for  sending  corn  and  victual:  that  there  was  talk  of  send- 
ing  out  as  deputy  either  Sir  W.  Russell,  who  "  absolutely 
refused  to  go,"  or  Sir  Walter  Ralegh,  who  "  did  little  like 
it :  "  and  that  up  to  the  22d  of  March,  no  dispatch  had 
been  made  of  deputy  or  forces.  The  main  issue,  how- 
ever, must  have  been  an  instruction  to  proceed  with  the 
treaty,  and  accept  Tyrone's  submission  upon  the  terms 
proposed :  for  we  learn  from  ISIoryson  that  "  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  the  Lords  Justices  caused 
Tyrone's  pardon  to  be  drawn  and  sealed  with  the  great 
seal  of   Ireland,  bearing  date  the  11th  of  April." 

So  much  I'acoii,  it  seems,  would  liave  approved.  But 
I  do  not  (ind  that  anything  was  done  either  to  provide 
for  the  garrisons,  or  to  kt'«>])  Tyi'oni"  in  order  by  th(^  mus- 
tering of  forces  in  Englan<l,  oi-  to  detach  the  j)eople  from 
him  by  the  ])ubU(^  manifestation  (»f  an  intention  to  reform 
abuses  in  li'chmd.  At  anv  rate,  whatever  was  done  was 
not  eiioiigli,  jis  things  turned  out  ;  Utv  Ix^fon^  winter  the 
whole  country  was  in  revolt. 

'  So  Resusc.     The  M.S.  has  unreasonable. 


1597-'J8.]      QUARREL  BETWEEN  ESSEX  AND  THE  QUEEN.       227 

The  truth  I  suppose  is,  that  the  negotiation  with 
France,  which  was  going  on  at  the  same  time  and  not 
going  on  at  all  successfully,  distracted  the  Queen's  at- 
tention from  Ireland,  and  both  the  menace  of  war  which 
was  to  awe  Tyrone,  and  the  commencement  of  refor- 
mation which  was  to  detach  the  people,  were  put  off  too 
long. 

Sir  Robert  Cecil  returned  at  the  end  of  April,  unsuc- 
cessful. But  though  the  King  of  France  could  not  be 
dissuaded  from  making  a  separate  treaty  with  Spain,  he 
accompanied  it  with  a  stipulation  that  England  should 
be  invited  to  join,  if  she  were  so  disposed.  This  led  to 
warm  debates  at  the  English  council-board  between  the 
peace-party,  represented  by  Burghley,  and  the  war-party, 
represented  by  Essex.  Bacon's  opinion  on  the  particular 
question  which  was  in  agitation  has  not  been  recorded. 
It  is  probable  however  that  he  approved  of  peace,  and 
certain  that  he  must  have  disapproved  of  the  temper  and 
method  in  which  Essex  was  proceeding ;  who  was  no.w 
once  more  on  the  brink  of  his  favorite  precipice,  and 
would  naturally  be  indisposed  to  seek  counsel  in  a  quar- 
ter from  which  he-  knew  he  could  expect  no  encoui-age- 
ment.  That  he  should  take  a  leading  part  in  the  choice 
of  an  officer  for  Ireland,  and  should  even  make  a  point 
of  securing,  if  he  could,  the  employment  of  one  of  his 
own  party,  was  natural,  and  in  accordance  with  Bacon's 
former  advice.  But  if  the  report  be  well  founded  —  and 
it  rests  upon  better  authority  than  such  reports  usually 
do  —  that  he  quarrelled  with  the  Queen  for  proposing  to 
send  his  uncle.  Sir  WiUiam  Knollys,  and  insisted  on  the 
appointment  of  Sir  George  Carew,  only  because  being 
on  bad  terms  with  him  he  wished  to  remove  him  from 
the  Court;  still  more,  if  it  be  true  that  upon  no  worthier 
quarrel  than  that  he  turned  his  back  upon  her  in  a  man- 
ner so  insulting  that  she  was  provoked  to  strike  him  ; 
whereupon  taking  fire  in  his  turn  he  laid  his  own  hand 


228       QUARREL  BETWEEN  ESSEX  AND  THE  QUEEN.     [Book  II. 

on  his  sword,  swearing  that  he  neither  could  nor  would 
swallow  such  an  indignity,  and  would  not  have  endured 
it  from  Henry  VIII.  himself,  and  so  retired  in  dudgeon 
from  the  Court,  refusing  to  make  any  submission  :  if  all 
this  be  true,  it  is  clear  that  he  was  going  headlong  in  a 
course  the  direct  opposite  of  that  which  Bacon  had  al- 
ways urged  upon  him.  Such  however  is  the  story,  as 
gravely  and  dispassionately  told  by  Camden,^  who  may 
have  heard  the  scene  described  by  those  who  saw  it,  — 
for  it  is  stated  to  have  taken  place  in  the  presence  of 
Lord  Nottingham,  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  and  Windebank, — 
a  story  never  I  believe  contradicted ;  and  confirmed,  in 
the  earlier  part  of  it,  by  one  of  the  "  brief  notes  and  re- 
membrances "  found  among  the  papers  of  Sir  John  Har- 
ington,  who  was  one  of  Essex's  friends.^  Nor  is  it  to  be 
denied  that  it  is  quite  in  the  spirit  of  his  former  proceed- 
ings, only  more  reckless  and  intemperate.  The  exact 
date  of  this  outbreak  is  not  stated  :  and  the  cause  and 
issue  of  the  quarrel  which  followed  is  only  to  be  gathered 
from  scraps  of  Court  news,  which  cannot  be  arranged 
into  a  consistent  tale.  It  seems  probable,  however,  that 
the  scene  at  Court  took  place  in  June  or  July,  1598;  and 
that  four  or  five  months  passed  in  ineffectual  endeavors 
on  the  Queen's  part  to  extract  from  him  some  apology  or 
submission  which  might  open  the  door  to  reconciliation, 
and  in  moody  discontent  and  wailings  as  of  a  much  in- 
jured man  on  his  ;  till,  about  the  end  of  October,  the 
absolute  necessity  of  agreeing  upon  some  course  for  the 
reduction  of  Ireland  to  obedience  (the  condition  of  which 
I  shall  have  to  treat  more  at  large  in  another  chapter) 
overruled  smalUu"  matters,  and  so  tiiey  maih;  it  up.     Not 

1  Camd.  Ann.,  iii.,  y.  771. 

2  "Note  liuri!  lidw  niiicli  will  a  iiiiiii  cvfii  Ix^nclit  his  enemy,  provided  he 
doth  put  him  out  of  his  own  wity.  My  Lord  of  Essex  did  latcily  wiiiit  Sir 
(leorK'"  <'arew  to  l)u  Lord  Lieiileniiiit  of  Ireluiid,  riUlier  than  hi.s  own  uncle,  Sir 
Williiim  KnollvH  ;  Ijeeause,  he  had  j^iven  him  some  eaiwo  of  ofTen.se,  and  by 
thus  thruHlinj^  him  into  hij^h  ollice  ho  would  remove  him  from  Court."  — Nuga 
Anliqiice,  p.  17'J. 


1597-98.]       LETTER  TO  THE  LORD  OF  ESSEX.         229 

however,  as  on  former  occasions,  with  satisfaction  on  both 
sides,  and  some  substantial  object  gained  on  the  Earl's  ; 
for  this  last  ojffense  was  but  imperfectly  digested  by 
either.  The  reconciliation,  such  as  it  was,  cannot  be 
dated  earlier  than  the  18  th  of  October,  if  that  be  the 
true  date  of  Essex's  well-known  letter  to  the  Lord 
Keeper;  but  I  suppose  it  took  place  not  long  after.  And 
then  it  probably  was  that  Bacon's  next  letter  was  writ- 
ten ;  though  my  only  ground  for  assigning  this  date  to 
it  is  that  it  suits  so  well  with  the  circumstances. 

TO   MY   LORD   OF   ESSEX. 

It  may  please  your  Lordship,  —  That  your  Lord- 
ship is  in  statu  quo  prius,  no  man  taketh  greater  glad- 
ness than  I  do  ;  the  rather,  because  I  assure  myself  that 
of  your  eclipses,  as  this  hath  been  the  longest,  it  shall  be 
the  last.i  As  the  comical  poet  saitb,  Neque  illam  tu 
satis  iioveras,  neque  te  ilia;  hoc  uhi  fit,  ibi  non  vivitur? 
For  if  I  may  be  so  bold  as  to  say  what  I  think,  I  believe 
neither  your  Lordship  looked  to  have  found  her  Majesty 
in  all  points  as  you  have  done,  neither  her  Majesty  per- 
case  looked  to  find  your  Lordship  as  she  hath  done. 
And  therefore  I  hope  upon  this  experience  may  grow 
more  perfect  knowledge,  and  upon  knowledge  more  true 
consent ;  which  I  for  my  part  do  infinitely  wish ;  as  ac- 
counting these  accidents  to  be  like  the  fish  Remora ; 
which  though  it  be  not  great,  yet  hath  it  a  hidden  prop- 
erty to  hinder  the  sailing  of  the  ship.  And  therefore  as 
bearing  unto  your  Lordship,  after  her  Majesty,  of  all 
public  persons  the  second  duty,  I  could  not  but  signify 
unto  you  my  affectionate  gratulation.  And  so  I  com- 
mend your  good  Lordship  to  the  best  preservation  of  the 
Divine  Majesty. 

From  G ray's  Inn. 

1  Len&t  in  original. 

2  So  in  the  original.     The  passage  is  in  Terence's  [feautontlmoroumenos,  i.  1, 
where  the  last  clause  stands  thus,  "  hocquejit  ubi  non  vere  vivitur.^' 


230  PARTI Al.  RECONCILIATION.  [Book  II. 

That  the  circumstances  of  this  last  quarrel  had  altered 
the  relation  between  Essex  and  the  Queen  was  most  true. 
But  Bacon's  hope  that  it  would  prove  an  alteration  for 
the  better  —  which  was  really  perhaps  an  expi-ession  of 
his  fear  that  it  would  prove  otherwise —  was  not  destined 
to  fulfill  itself.  The  Queen  indeed,  thougli  her  affection 
had  received  another  moi'tification  and  her  judgment 
another  warning,  retained  her  affection  still,  and  would 
have  gladly  taken  him  back  upon  any  reasonable  assur- 
ance of  good  behavior.  But  in  Essex  the  season  of  good 
behavior  was  past.  "  Ambitious  men,"  says  Bacon,  "  if 
they  rise  not  with  their  service,  they  will  take  order  that 
their  service  fall  with  them."  Prosperity  had  made  him 
such  as  we  have  seen  him  hitherto :  what  eflfect  adversity 
was  to  have  upon  him  —  if  such  mortifications  as  he  had 
now  to  endure  can  be  dignified  with  tlie  name  of  adver- 
sity—  we  shall  see  shortly.  For  the  present  we  must 
leave  him  in  a  state  of  partial  reconcilement,  with  the 
sound  of  Bacon's  voice  in  his  ear,  hoping  that  his  better 
knowledge  may  guide  him  into  a  safer  course. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A.  D.  1598-1599.    ^TAT.  38-39. 

Tr:E  poverty  which  in  the  summer  of  1597  was  still 
coming  on  Bacon  like  one  that  travelleth,  came  in  the 
autumn  of  1598  like  a  sheriff's  officer.  A  money-lender 
who  held  his  bond  for  X300  had  sued  him  for  it  in 
Trinity  Term  of  that  year,  but  agreed  to  "respite  the 
satisfaction"  till  the beo^innino;  of  the  term  next  ensuing. 
A  full  fortnight,  however,  before  Michaelmas  Term  began 
(Avithout  any  warning  and  upon  what  pretense  we  are 
not  informed),  he  served  an  execution  upon  him  and  had 
hhn  arrested  as  he  came  from  the  Tower,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  business  of  the  learned  counsel ;  in  which  he 
seems  now  to  have  taken  his  part,  though  a  subordinate 
one,  as  a  matter  of  course. 

All  we  know  of  the  case  is  contained  in  the  two  next 
letters,  which  I  leave  to  tell  their  own  story.  The  orig- 
inals were  found  by  Murdin  in  the  Hatfield  collection  of 
state  papers,  and  communicated  by  him  to  Birch,  who  in- 
cluded them  in  a  volume  entitled  "  Letters,  Speeches,  etc., 
of  Francis  Bacon,"  published  in  1763 ;  from  which  they 
are  here  taken. 

TO    SIR   ROBERT   CECIL,  SECRETARY   OF   STATE. 

It  may  PLEASE  YOUR  HONOR, —  I  humbly  pray  you 
to  understand  how  badly  I  have  been  used  by  the  en- 
closed, being  a  copy  of  a  letter  of  complaint  thereof, 
which  I  have  written  to  the  Lord  Keeper.  How  sensi- 
tive you  are  of  wrongs  offered  to  your  blood  in  my  par- 


232  BACON  ARRESTED   FOR  DEBT.  [Book  II. 

ticular,  I  have  had  not  long  since  experience.  But 
herein  I  think  your  Honor  will  be  doubly  sensitive,  in 
tenderness  also  of  the  indignity  to  her  Majesty's  service. 
For  as  for  me,  Mr.  Sympson  might  have  had  me  every 
day  in  London  ;  and  therefore  to  belay  me,  while  he 
knew  I  came  from  the  Tower  about  her  Majesty's  special 
service,  was  to  my  understanding  very  bold.  And  two 
days  before  he  brags  he  forbore  me,  because  I  dined  with 
sheriff  More.  So  as  with  Mr.  Sympson,  examinations  at 
the  Tower  are  not  so  great  a  privilege,  eundo  et  redeundo, 
as  sheriff  More's  dinner.  Bat  this  complaint  I  make  in 
duty ;  and  to  that  end  have  also  informed  my  Lord  of 
Essex  thereof ;  for  otherwise  his  punishment  will  do  me 
no  good. 

So  with  signification  of  my  humble  duty,  I  commend 
your  Honor  to  the  divine  preservation.  From  Coleman 
Street,  this  24th  of  September  [1598]. 

At  your  honorable  command  particularly, 

Fr.  Bacon. 

to  sir  thomas  egerton,  lord  keeper  of  the 
great  seal. 

It  may  PLEASE  YOUR  LoKDSiHP,  —  I  am  to  make 
humbh^  complaint  to  your  Lordship  of  some  hard  dealing 
offered  me  by  one  Sympson,  a  goldsmith,  a  man  noted 
much,  as  I  liavc  heard,  for  extremities  and  stoutness 
upon  his  purse  :  but  yet  I  could  scarcely  have  imagined 
he  would  have  dealt  either  so  dishonestly  towards  my- 
self, or  so  contemptuously  towards  iier  Majesty's  service. 
For  this  Lombard  (pardon  me,  I  most  humbly  pray  your 
Lordsliip,  if  Ix'ing  admonished  l)y  the  strei^t  lie  dwells  in, 
I  giv«;  liim  lliat  name)  liaving  me  in  bond  for  <£300 
principal,  and  1  liaving  tlu?  last  term  confessed  the  action, 
and  by  his  full  and  direct  consent  respited  the  satisfac- 
tion till  the  beginning  of  this  tei"m  to  conic,  without  ever 
giving  me  warning  either  by  letter  or  message,  served  an 


1598-99]  BACON  ARRESTED  FOR  DEBT.  233 

execution  upon  me,  having  trained  me  at  such  time  as  I 
came  from  the  Tower,  where,  Mr.  Waad  can  witness, 
we  attended  a  service  of  no  mean  importance.  Neither 
would  he  so  much  as  vouchsafe  to  come  and  speak  wdth 
me  to  take  any  order  in  it,  though  I  sent  for  him  divers 
times,  and  his  house  was  just  by  ;  handling  it  as  upon  a 
despite,  being  a  man  I  never  provoked  with  a  cross  word, 
no  nor  with  many  delays.  He  would  have  urged  it  to 
have  had  me  in  prison  ;  which  he  had  done,  had  not 
sheriff  Alore,  to  whom  I  sent,  gently  recommended  me 
to  an  handsome  house  in  Coleman  Street,  where  I  am. 
Now  because  he  will  not  treat  with  me,  I  am  enforced 
humbly  to  desire  your  Lordship  to  send  for  him,  accord- 
ing to  your  place,  to  bring  him  to  some  reason  ;  and  this 
forthwith,  because  I  continue  here  to  my  further  dis- 
credit and  inconvenience,  and  the  trouble  of  the  gentle- 
man with  whom  I  am.  I  have  an  hundred  pounds  lying 
by  me,  which  he  may  have,  and  the  rest  upon  some 
reasonable  time  and  security  ;  or,  if  need  be,  the  whole  ; 
but  with  my  more  trouble.  As  for  the  contempt  he 
hath  offered,  in  regard  her  Majesty's  service,  to  my  un- 
derstanding, carrietli  a  privilege  eundo  et  redeundo  in 
meaner  causes,  much  more  in  matters  of  this  nature,  es- 
pecially in  persons  known  to  be  qualified  with  that  place 
and  employment,  which,  though  unworthy,  I  am  vouch- 
safed, I  enforce  nothing ;  thinking  I  have  done  my  part 
when  I  have  made  it  known ;  and  so  leave  it  to  your 
Lordship's  honorable  consideration.  And  so  with  signifi- 
cation of  my  humble  duty,  etc. 

The  service  in  the  Tower  from  which  Bacon  was  re- 
turning when  thus  interrupted,  and  of  which  Mr.  Waad 
could  witness  the  importance,  was  no  doubt  the  examina- 
tion (taken  on  the  23d  of  September,  1598,  before  Pey- 
ton, Waad,  and  himself)  of  John  Stanley. 

The  case  under  investigation  was  one  of  those  Cfwispira- 


234  CONSPIRACY   OF  EDWARD  SQUIRE.  [Book.  II. 

cies  for  tiie  assassination  of  Elizabeth,  got  up  by  the 
Popish  refugees  in  Spain,  which  had  become  so  frequent 
of  late  years  ;  and  of  which  (as  they  all  failed,  some 
through  the  vigilance  of  the  Government,  and  some, 
Uke  the  present,  from  the  weakness  of  the  means  em- 
ployed) it  is  difficult  in  a  world  so  changed  to  feel  the 
true  importance  in  relation  to  the  business  of  that  day. 
It  has  become  the  fashion,  upon  a  general  assumption 
that  the  Government  by  the  control  they  had  over  the 
evidence  could  convict  anybody  of  anything,  and  that 
they  used  their  power  without  any  scruple,  to  treat  all 
such  stories  with  contempt.  But  if  the  records  show  that 
evidence  was  in  those  days  both  obtained  and  used  in  a 
manner  which  would  not  now  be  thought  fair,  they  show 
also  that  a  vast  deal  of  labor  and  ingenuity  was  spent  in 
extracting  it ;  and  that  when  a  man  was  arrested  on  sus- 
picion of  treason  his  trial  and  conviction  did  not  b}'  any 
means  follow  as  a  matter  of  course.  Long  delays  inter- 
vened. Sheets  upon  sheets  of  interrogatories  were  care- 
fully drawn  up.  All  the  answers  were  taken  down  in 
writing  and  authenticated  by  the  signatures  of  all  the 
examiners  present.  Fresh  evidence  was  taken  upon  the 
hints  derived  from  what  had  been  obtained  before. 
Often  it  happened  that  this  evidence  was  not  found 
sutlicicnt,  and  the  charge  was  dropped.  Often,  after 
public  trial  and  conviction,  a  history  of  the  case  was 
j)ut  forth  for  public  satisfaction.  All  which  implies  tliat 
the  authorities  of  those  days  were  careful  of  their  reputa- 
tion for  justice,  anxious  in  all  public  proceedings  of  that 
nature  to  have  the  feeling  of  thu  people  with  them,  and 
dilTered  from  ourselves  rather  in  the  way  they  Avent 
about  it  than  in  respect  for  the  thing. 

The  case  then  under  investigation  was  an  attempt  to 
poison  the  Qufcn.  whicli  had  been  made  in  July,  1507, 
liy  one  Edward  Squire  and  failed  ;  and  about  which  no 
Hiispicfftu   had   been   raised  at  tln^  time.      It  was  not  till 


1598-99.]  HISTORY  OF  SQUIRE'S   COXSPTRACY.  23") 

May,  1598,  I  believe,  that  the  Government  heard  of  it ; 
not  till  October  that  they  made  the  story  out.  A 
strange  story,  and  in  some  parts  hard  to  believe  :  but 
certainly  resting  upon  admissions  made  by  the  accused 
party  under  cross-examination,  which  it  is  still  harder  to 
account  for  if  they  were  false.  As  a  fact  in  the  history 
of  criminal  proceedings,  it  is  still  a  curiositj'^  worth  pre- 
serving. And  it  happens  to  have  been  preserved  in  a 
manner  which  gives  it  a  litei'ary  interest  as  well. 

Early  in  1599  there  appeared  from  the  press  of  the 
Queen's  printer  a  pamphlet,  purporting  to  be  a  letter 
written  by  a  gentleman  in  England  to  a  friend  in  Padua, 
giving  a  full  account  of  it :  and  though  the  writer's  name 
was  not  mentioned,  I  have  no  doubt,  judging  by  the  style, 
that  it  was  written  by  Bacon.  Whether  it  was  really 
a  private  letter,  a  copy  of  which  being  shown  to  the 
Queen,  she  resolved  to  have  it  printed  by  authority 
(which  is  not  unlikely,  for  both  the  Bacons  had  corre- 
spondents in  Italy,  who  used  to  send  them  "  relations  "  of 
affairs  there)  ;  or  whether  it  was  originally  drawn  up 
for  publication,  the  form  of  a  private  letter  being 
chosen  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  a  "too  curious  and 
striving  apolog3%"  1 1  cannot  say;  nor  is  it  a  matter  of 
any  consequence.  A  copy  was  sent  to  Dudley  Carle- 
ton,  the  Bishop's  brother,  by  Chamberlain,  on  the  1st  of 
March,  1598-9:  with  the  remark  that  it  was  "well 
written,"  but  without  any  speculation  as  to  the  writer. 
In  ascribing  it  to  Bacon  I  rely  entirely  on  the  internal 
evidence  —  which  in  this  case,  however,  is  to  me  almost 
as  conclusive  as  the  discovery  of  a  draft  in  his  own  hand- 
writing would  be.  The  external  evidence  jroes  no  fur- 
ther  than  to  show  that  he  was  in  a  position  to  write  it. 
He  was  certainly  present  at  many  of  the  examinations : 
probably  present  at  the  trial  ;  and  had  a  right  to  know 
everything  that  he  tells.  The  original  examinations  and 
confessions  may  still  be  seen  in  the  .State  Paper  Qifice. 

1  See  al)ove,  p.  41. 


236  HISTORY  OF  SQUIRE- S  CONSPIRACY.  [Bo  .,c  II. 

Camden,  who  gives  a  concise  summary  of  the  case  in 
exact  accordance  with  this  narrative  (probably  takeii 
from  it),  adds  that  "  Walpoole,^  or  some  other  for  him, 
set  forth  a  book  in  print,  wherein  he  precisely  denied 
with  many  detestations  all  which  Squire  had  confessed." 
But  unfortunately  the  motives  of  such  a  denial  are  ob- 
vious and  strong,  and  some  of  them  of  a  nature  which 
might  seem  to  a  person  in  Walpoole's  position  to  make  it 
a  duty  above  that  of  telling  truth  ;  whereas  if  the  story 
told  by  Squire  was  false,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  his 
motive  for  telling  it.  Supposing  him  to  have  been  really 
involved  in  some  such  conspiracy,  I  can  understand  how 
he  may  have  been  induced  to  acknowledge  some  part  of 
it,  and  may  thereby  have  entangled  himself  in  his  own 
admissions  till  he  had  no  escape.  But  if  the  story  was 
all  false,  what  possible  inducement  could  he  have  for  in- 
venting it?  He  was  merely  spinning  a  rope  for  his  own 
neck.  And  besides  this  difficulty  (which  seems  to  me 
insuperable),  the  principles  avowed  by  the  Jesuits  in 
those  days  must  necessarily  deprive  their  assertions  of 
all  value.  There  may  be  obligations  higher  than  that  of 
veracity,  but  he  who  accepts  them  must  be  content  to 
have  all  his  words  distrusted.  A  promise  is  worth  noth- 
ing from  a  man  who  acknowledges  an  authority  that  may 
release  him  from  it.  An  oath  that  he  speaks  truth  is 
worth  nothing  from  a  man  who  may  believe  it  his  duty 
to  declare  upon  oath  that  which  is  false.  For  my  own 
part  I  believe  the  story  as  here  told  to  be  substantially 
true.  Those  who  think  it  a  fiction  (that  is  to  say,  the 
report  of  a  fiction,  for  the  reporter  was  certainly  not  the 
inventor)  will  still  find  it  interesting  for  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  told.  A  better  specimen  of  the  art  of  narra- 
tion it  would  be  difficult  to  find.  And  it  is  interesting 
besides  as  showing  Bacon's  idea  (for  I  suppose  those  who 

'  VnthfT  Kicliard  Wji1|i(i<p1c,  a  .Ifsuit  ;  charged  witli  beinp  tlio  "deviser  and 
suborner  '^  of  the  conspirnry. 


1598-99.]        SUCCESSES   OF  THE  REBELS  IN   IRELAND.  237 

are  most  familiar  with  his  acknowledged  writings  in  this 
kind  will  be  least  inclined  to  doubt  that  it  is  his  work)  of 
the  manner  in  which  such  cases  ought  to  be  treated, 
cases  in  which  the  conduct  of  the  government  was  sure 
to  be  misrepresented  by  an  interested  faction. 

We  return  now  to  the  affairs  of  the  Earl  of  Essex ; 
whom  we  left  in  a  state  of  partial  recovery  from  his  last 
and  most  serious  fit  of  disgust ;  again  in  attendance  at 
Court  and  Council,  and  received  by  the  Queen  ;  but 
upon  the  new  and  indigestible  condition  of  giving  instead 
of  receiving  satisfaction,  making  submissions  instead  of 
extorting  boons. 

Tyrone  had  broken  faith  so  often  and  so  often  received 
pardon  upon  promise  not  to  break  it  again,  that  he  had 
come  at  last  to  regard  both  as  matters  of  course.  This 
last  treaty,  not  being  backed  by  preparations  for  effec- 
tual chastisement  in  case  of  breach,  appears  to  have  been 
simply  ignored.  What  pretexts  he  alleged  we  are  not 
informed.  Moryson  only  says,  "Tyrone  wanted  not  pre- 
tenses to  frustrate  the  late  treaty,  and  to  return  to  his 
former  disloyalty ;  and  the  defection  of  all  other  submit- 
ties  depending  on  him  followed  his  revolt."  And  cer- 
tainly his  engagement  to  repair  the  fort  of  Blackwater 
and  furnish  the  garrison  with  victual  can  hardly  have 
been  two  months  old,  when  having  in  vain  tried  to  take 
it  by  assault  he  was  proceeding  to  reduce  it  by  famine. 

It  was  in  marching  to  the  relief  of  the  brave  little  band 
who  held  it,  that  the  English  first  learned  how  rapidly 
the  natives  were  improving  in  the  art  of  war ;  a  lesson 
which  England  has  had  to  learn  many  times  since  in 
many  parts  of  the  world  by  the  same  kind  of  teaching. 
The  siecre  had  lasted  so  lonsji;  that  the  o-arrison  were  feed- 
ino"  on  the  veiretation  of  the  walls  and  ditches,  when  Sir 
Henry  Bagnall,  Marshal  of  Ireland,  "  with  the  most 
choice  companies  of  foot  and  horse  troops  of  the  English 
army,"  was  sent  to  relieve  them.    Having  to  pass  among 


238  SUCCESSES  OF   THE  REBELS   IN  IRELAND.        [Book  II. 

hills,  bogs,  and  woods,  the  force  got  separated,  and  Ty- 
rone taking  his  advantage,  charged  the  foremost  body, 
killed  the  ^larshal,  and  in  the  end  gained  a  complete  vic- 
tory. Thirteen  captains  and  fifteen  hundred  soldiers 
were  slain  on  the  field,  and  the  rest  fell  back  upon  Ar- 
magh; whereupon  the  garrison,  having  first  learned  that 
there  was  no  further  hope  of  succor,  yielded  up  the  fort. 

"  By  this  victory  *'  —  which  happened  on  the  14th  of 
August  —  "  the  rebels  "  (says  Moryson)  "  got  plenty  of 
arms  and  victuals ;  Tyrone  was  among  the  Irish  cele- 
brated as  the  deliverer  of  his  country  from  thraldom,  and 
the  combined  ti'aitors  on  all  sides  were  puffed  up  with 
intolerable  pride.  All  Ulster  was  in  arms,  all  Connaught 
revolted,  and  the  rebels  of  Leinster  swarmed  in  the  Eng- 
lish pale :  while  the  English  lay  in  their  garrisons,  so  far 
from  assailing  the  i*ebels,  as  they  rather  lived  in  contin- 
ual fear  to  be  surprised  by  them/'  In  October  Munster 
followed  the  example. 

After  this,  it  was  clear  that  the  case  of  Ireland  could 
no  longer  be  allowed  to  wait  upon  Court  quarrels.  The 
Council  had  recently  suffered  a  great  loss  both  in  brains 
and  heart  by  the  death  of  Burghley  a  fortnight  before. 
Sir  Robert  Cecil's  al)iliti(>s,  though  great,  were  not  of 
that  simple  and  direct  kind  which  gives  a  natural  ascend- 
ency and  authority  in  council  ;  nor  was  he  perhaps  alto- 
gether the  man  to  deal  with  such  a  problem  as  Ireland 
now  presented,  if  he  liad  been  left  to  himself.  Ralegh, 
who  had  all  the  faculties  for  it,  is  for  some  reason  or 
other  not  heard  of  at  this  juncture.  I  fancy  he  kept 
aloof,  knowing  that  such  a  business  could  not  be  under- 
takcm  with  any  chance  of  success,  except  by  a  man  who 
liad  tlie  advantage  both  of  popidarity  in  the  country  and 
a  commanding  piirty  in  Court  aiul  Council:  and  ]w  had 
had  last(!  enough  f<f  Essex's  disposition  towards  rivals  in 
general  and  hiniseU'  in  paiticular,  to  know  what  sort  of 
support  he  was  likely  to  reccivi"  from  a  Council  swayed 


1598-99.]        SUCCESSES  OF  THE  REBELS  IN   IRELAXD.  239 

by  him.  Essex  himself  was  as  yet  in  no  humor  to  help, 
though  still  powerful  to  hinder.  He  had  refused  to  give 
counsel  when  last  called  to  the  Lord  Keeper,  unless  he 
might  be  first  heard  by  the  Queen  herself.  On  hearing 
of  the  disaster  of  Blackwater  he  had  posted  up  and  made 
offer  of  his  advice,  but  only  (it  seems)  on  the  same  con- 
dition.^  And  though  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  access  in 
the  course  of  the  next  month,  it  was  not  till  after  the 
18th  of  October  (according  to  Camden's  account)  that 
"  he  became  more  submiss,  and  obtained  pardon  ;  and 
was  received  again  of  her  into  favor." 

Of  the  occasion  and  process  of  his  recovery  I  find  no 
news.  But  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  a  second  blow  of 
ill  luck  in  Ireland  had  something  to  do  with  it.  On  the 
29th  of  Aufjust,  a  fortnight  after  the  Blackwater  dis- 
aster,  we  learn  from  Chamberlain  that  he  was  still  out 
of  favor,  "  though  he  had  relented  much  and  sought  by 
divers  means  to  recover  his  hold :  but  the  Queen  said  he 
had  played  long  enough  upon  her,  and  that  she  meant  to 
play  awhile  upon  him,  and  to  stand  as  much  upon  her 
greatness  as  he  had  done  upon  his  stomach."  On  the 
12th  of  September  (as  I  learn  from  a  letter  of  Toby 
Matthews)  he  saw  the  Queen  for  the  first  time  since  the 
quarrel,  and  was  supposed  to  be  in  favor  again.  Yet 
the  reconciliation  cannot  have  been  a  very  sound  one  ; 
for  the  letter  of  remonstrance  addressed  to  him  by  Eger- 
ton  and  his  reply  (18th  October)  show  that  the  old 
wound  was  still  as  sore  as  ever,  and  that  he  was  then 
standing  on  terms  little  short  of  defiance. 

Now  it  must  have  been  about  this  time  that  the  case 
of  Ireland  assumed  a  new  aspect.  Upon  news  of  the 
death  of  Sir  Henry  Bagnall  at  Blackwater,  Sir  Richard 
Bingham  —  "a  man,"  says  Camden,  "  of  all  others  the 
most  valiant  and  fortunate  against  the  rebels"— ^ had 
been  sent  over  to  take  his  place  as  Marshal  of  Ireland 

1  See  his  own  Letter,  printed  in  the  Lives  of  the  Earls  of  Essex,  i.,  496. 


240  APPOINTMENT  OF  A  NEW  LORD  DEPUTY.       [Book  II. 

and  General  of  Leinster.  But  Sir  Richard  had  hardly- 
arrived  in  Dublin  when  he  died.  This  was  another  great 
loss  to  the  government  and  great  encouragement  to  the 
rebellion,  which  was  rapidly  spreading  on  all  sides.  The 
reconquest  of  Ireland  became  now  the  main  problem  of 
the  time,  and  could  only  be  accomplished  by  a  strong  ef- 
fort and  a  large  army.  Whoever  commanded  that  array 
would  be  the  chief  man  of  the  day  ;  would  draw  tlie  eyes 
of  all  soldiers  upon  him  while  the  action  was  in  progress, 
and  if  he  succeeded,  would  have  done  a  much  greater 
thing  than  the  capture  of  Cadiz.  Now  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  if  Essex  could  be  content  to  see  any  one  else 
in  such  a  position  as  that,  he  was  within  the  last  twelve- 
month a  much  altered  man  ;  and  I  cannot  help  suspect- 
ing that  it  was  this  apprehension  wliich  overcame  his 
disgusts  and  induced  him  to  make  the  necessary  submis- 
sion. Certain  it  is  that  only  two  days  after  the  date  of 
that  letter  to  Egerton,  —  a  letter  breathing  of  anything 
but  submission,  —  a  report  was  abroad  that  he  meant  to 
take  tlie  charge  of  Ireland  upon  himself;  and  from  that 
time  the  rumor  which  had  previously  assigned  it  to  Lord 
Montjoy  died  away,  no  one  but  he  was  spoken  of  for  the 
a])[)ointment,  and  t\ui  delays  arose  not  from  the  preten- 
sions of  any  competitor  or  from  any  liesitation  in  him- 
self, but  from  the  difficulty  of  satisfying  him  as  to  the 
conditions.  The  truth  is,  he  found  that  if  he  held  out 
longer  the  service  would  be  committed  to  another  man. 
While  he  was  still  nursing  his  grievance  and  refusing  to 
attend.  Lord  Montjoy  had  been  fixed  upon  ;i  a  man  sin- 
gularly qualilit'd  for  the  office,  as  appeared  afterwards  ; 
and  one  also  whom  Essex  (ever  since  be  quarreled  and 
fought  with   him,  souk;  ten   ycurs   before,  for  wearing  a 

1  "  Wlun  tlin  Karl  of  l'>s(>x  went  I^rd  LieiitiMiant  into  Ircliinil,  flic  Lord 
Montji'V  was  lirst  rianiod  (o  tliat  place;  whereupon  l)y  my  brollier  Sir  Kiebard 
Morvson's  inwaidnenn  with  him,  I  then  obtained  his  Lonlship's  promise  to  follow 
him  inlf>  Ireland."  —  Mory.xon,  p.  84.  It  is  clear  therefore  that  the  selection  of 
Ix)rd  Monijoy  was  mon-  than  a  rumor. 


1598-99.]  APPOINTMENT  OF  A  NEW  LORD  DEPUTY.  241 

Queen's  favor  in  the  tiltyard)  had  reckoned  among  his 
friends.  But  it  was  now  some  time  since  Essex  had  been 
able  to  continue  on  terras  of  friendship  with  any  man 
who  stood  in  a  position  to  be  in  any  way  his  competi- 
tor ;  and  all  accounts  agree  that  it  was  by  his  influence 
that  the  nomination  of  Montjoy  was  canceled  and  the 
task  laid  upon  himself. 

That  he  disliked  the  service  at  all  is  by  no  means  clear 
to  me.  If  he  did,  he  disliked  still  more  that  another  man 
should  be  entrusted  with  it.  But  whether  he  liked  it  or 
not,  he  was  to  go ;  and  before  he  went,  if  not  before  he 
had  finally  resolved  on  going,  he  asked  Bacon's  advice. 
The  time  is  not  known.  If  I  have  guessed  the  occasion 
of  Bacon's  last  congratulatory  letter  right, ^  it  ma}^  have 
been  then,  and  that  letter  may  have  suggested  the  com- 
munication. At  any  rate  it  seems  to  have  been  while 
there  was  yet  time  for  consideration.  What  Bacon  was 
likely  to  think  of  such  a  project  may  be  inferred  from 
the  significant  qualification  with  which  he  guarded  the 
suggestion  thrown  out  in  his  last  letter  of  advice, — 
written  when  he  hoped  that  the  rebellion  would  be 
quelled  without  a  war.  "  And  (says  he)  hut  that  your 
Lordship  is  too  easy  to  pass  in  such  cases  from  dissimu- 
lation to  verity,  I  think  if  your  Lordship  lent  your  repu- 
tation in  this  case,  —  that  is  to  pretend  that  if  peace  go 
not  on  and  the  Queen  mean  to  make,  not  a  defensive  war 
as  in  times  past,  but  a  full  reconquest  of  those  parts  of 
the  countiy,  you  would  accept  the  charge ;  I  think  it 
would  help  to  settle  Tyrone  in  his  seeking  accord,  and  win 
you  a  great  deal  of  honor  gratis.""^  Of  the  value  of  the 
loan  of  Essex's  reputation  there  could  be  no  doubt.  His 
fame  in  England  was  at  its  height,  and  carried  over  to 
Ireland  with  echoes  from  every  side,  would  no  doubt 
sound  still  louder  there  than  here.  Nothing  is  more 
likely  than  that  in  Api'il,  when  the  rebellion  had  not 
1  See  above,  p.  229. 


242  BACON  ADVISES  ESSEX  NOT  TO  GO.       IBook  U. 

as  yet  been  encouraged  by  any  considerable  success,  the 
fear  of  a  royal  army  under  the  command  of  Essex  would 
have  made  the  leaders  pause  and  given  healing  measures 
time  to  work.  But  it  is  clear  that  even  then  Bacon 
would  not  have  advised  him  to  put  it  to  the  proof  —  much 
less  now,  when  the  work  was  so  much  more  arduous,  and 
liis  own  position  so  much  worse  by  reason  of  the  feelings 
which  his  recent  behavior  had  excited  in  the  Queen.  Of 
the  advice  which  Bacon  did  in  fact  give  we  must  be  con- 
tent with  his  own  report,  there  being  no  other  record  of 
it.  "  Touching  his  going  into  Ireland  it  pleased  him 
expressly  and  in  a  set  manner  to  desire  mine  opinion 
and  counsel.  At  which  time  I  did  not  only  dissuade  but 
protest  against  his  going  ;  telling  him  with  as  much  ve- 
hemency  and  asseveration  as  I  could  that  absence  in  that 
kind  would  exulcerate  the  Queen's  mind,  whereby  it 
would  not  be  possible  for  him  to  carry  himself  so  as  to 
give  her  suflicient  contentment,  nor  for  her  to  carry  her- 
self so  as  to  give  him  sufficient  countenance ;  which  will 
be  ill  for  her,  ill  for  him,  and  ill  for  the  state.  And  be- 
cause I  would  omit  no  argument,  I  remember  I  stood 
also  upon  the  difiiculty  of  the  action  ;  setting  before  him 
out  of  histories  that  the  Irish  were  such  an  enemy  as  the 
ancient  Gauls  or  (iermans  or  Britons  were ;  and  we  saw 
liow  the  Romans,  who  had  such  discipline  to  govern  their 
soldiers  and  such  donatives  to  encourage  them  and  the 
whole  world  in  a  manner  to  levy  them,  yet  when  they 
came  to  deal  with  enemies  which  placed  their  felicity 
only  in  liberty  and  the  shar])ness  of  tluur  swoi-d,  and  had 
the  natural  elemental  advantages  of  bogs  and  woods  and 
hardness  of  bcMruis,  they  ever  found  they  had  their  hnnds 
full  of  them  ;  and  therefore  (•()n(-lud('ii  that  going  ov(.'r 
with  sucii  expectation  as  he  did,  and  through  the  churl- 
ishness of  the  entcrjiiise  not  like  to  answer  it,  would 
mightily  diminiHli  his  reputation;  and  many  other  icasons 
I  used,  so  as  I  am  sure   I   never  in  anything  in   my  life- 


1598-99.]  BACON  ADVISES  ESSEX  NOT  TO  GO.  243 

time  dealt  with  him  in  like  earnestness,  by  speech,  by 
writing,  and  by  all  the  means  I  could  devise.  F(n-  I  did 
as  plainly  see  his  overthrow  chained  as  it  wtre  by  destiny 
to  that  journey,  as  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  ground  a 
judgment  upon  future  contingents.  But  my  Lord,  how- 
soever his  ear  was  open,  yet  his  heart  and  resolution  was 
shut  against  that  advice."  ^ 

The  questions  which  arose  with  regard  to  the  extent 
of  his  commission  it  is  not  necessary  to  discuss.  If  Bacon 
was  consulted  aboiit  any  of  them  (which  I  do  not  think 
likely)  no  record  remains  of  his  opinion.  The  amplitude 
of  the  authority  for  which  Essex  stipulated  and  the  per- 
tinacity with  which  he  insisted  on  his  demands  is  said  to 
have  been  remarked  at  the  time  as  strange  and  even  sus- 
picious. "  In  such  sort  did  he  bear  himself,"  says  Cam- 
den, "that  he  seemed  to  his  adversaries  to  wish  nothing 
more  than  to  have  an  army  under  his  command  and  to 
bind  martial  men  unto  him  ;  and  that  with  such  earnest 
seeking  that  some  feared  lest  he  entertained  some  mon- 
strous design,  especially  seeing  he  showed  his  contumacy 
more  and  more  against  the  Queen,  that  had  been  nuxst 
bountiful  to  him."  And  certainly  considering  the  temper 
he  was  in,  the  sense  of  injury  which  he  was  still  nursing 
in  himself  and  which  was  cherished  in  him  by  a  whole 
world  of  sympathizing  followers,  his  long  habit  of  coming 
a  winner  out  of  every  dispute  with  the  Queen,  and  his 
inveterate  tendency  to  consider  every  man  who  crossed 
him  as  an  enemy  to  his  country  as  well  as  to  him,  it  may 
well  be  believed  that  one  of  the  objects  which  he  had 
now  in  view  was  to  make  himself  formidable  :  which  he 
had  the  means  of  doing,  because  he  was  in  fact  formidable 
already  :  so  much  so  that  the  danger  of  refusing  his  de- 
mands was  thought  to  be  (even  with  the  Queen)  one  of 
the  reasons  for  granting  them.^ 

1  Apology. 

2  "  He  had  long  been  a  dear  favorite  with  the  Queen,  but  liad  of  late   ain  so 


244  ESSEX  RESOLVED  TO  GO.  [Book  II. 

Bacon  himself  was,  I  think,  very  far  from  eus}'  on  this 
head.  He  liad  long  since  warned  him  of  the  impression 
which  his  favorite  courses  would  sooner  or  later  make  on 
tlie  Queen's  mind,  whether  or  not  there  were  an}"^  real 
ground  for  it :  latterl}^  he  had  begun,  I  fancy,  to  suspect 
that  there  was  juster  reason  for  that  impression  than  there 
should  have  been.  And  now  when  the  Earl  was  on  the 
point  of  setting  out  on  the  great  enterprise,  he  wrote  him 
a  letter,  the  full  significance  of  which  will  not  be  under- 
stood without  bearing  this  among  other  things  in  mind. 

He  had  in  vain  advised  him  to  decline  an  undertaking 
to  which  he  did  not  think  him  equal.  His  advice  had 
been  heard  and  rejected.  All  was  now  settled.  Every 
demand  which  the  Earl  made  had  been  conceded ;  the 
rather  (they  say)  by  the  furtherance  of  his  enemies,  who 
foresaw  the  issue. ^  He  was  to  have  a  larger  army  under 
his  command  than  had  ever  been  seen  in  Ireland,  and 
larger  powers  than  any  deputy  had  ever  been  trusted 
with.  The  one  chance  for  him  now  was  to  be  inspired 
with  a  due  sense  of  the  responsibility  of  his  position ;  to 
have  his  ambition  directed  into  the  riglit  channel,  and 
his  spirit  roused  to  perform  worthily  the  service  which 
he  had,  however  raslily,  undertaken.  If  he  could  but  be 
persuaded  to  lay  aside  personal  aims  and  emulations,  and 
think  only  of  the  public  duty  with  which  he  was  trusted  ; 
to  make  the  performance  of  that  his  sole  aim,  and  address 
hiinscdf  to  it  earnestly,  strenuously,  and  loyally  ;  he  had 
still  a  nol)l(!  alternative  before  liiiii  :  the  Iidikh-  iiiid  iiu'rlt 
of  a  great  achicvenKMit  if  he  succeeded  ;  of  a.  faithful  en- 
deavor if  Ik;  faih-'d.     In  reminding  him  once  more  of  the 

open  to  his  encmicR,  ns  he  had  given  llicm  power  to  make  his  embracing  of  mil- 
itary courses  and  his  popular  CKtiinadon  ^o  iiiucli  suspected  of  his  sovereign,  as 
ills  greatiir'ss  was  now  judged  to  dci)eiid  as  nineh  upon  her  Majesty's  fear  of 
him  as  her  love  to  him."  —  Morysoii,  p.  '20. 

1  "Nee  (|ui(-r|unm  in  optatis  hai)iiit  quod  ollieiosa,  nc  dicani  insidiosa,  adver- 
Bariorum  opt-ra  non  im|)elravil."  — Cauxleii.  A  eomment  curiously  contrasling 
wilh  Kssex's  own  cotuplaints,  llw  unvarying  Ipurdi'u  of  uliic  li  is  llial  whatevei 
he  asks  for  is  rrfu-^i-d. 


1598-99.]  BACON'S  LETTER.  245 

dangers  which  awaited  him,  to  rouse  his  ambition  to  en- 
counter and  overcome  them,  is  the  tiisk  to  which  Bacon 
now  addressed  himself.  He  looks  on  all  sides  for  hopeful 
prognostics ;  tries  to  see  them  in  the  rareness  of  the  op- 
portunity, an  occasion  forced  on  as  it  were  by  Providence 
for  reducing  and  settling  the  whole  kingdom  of  Ireland  : 
in  the  badness  of  the  cause  he  was  going  against,  three  of 
the  unluckiest  vices  of  all  others  :  Disloyalty,  Ingratitude, 
and  Insolency :  in  the  goodness  and  justice  of  the  cause 
he  was  going  to  maintain  ;  a  recovery  of  subjects  from 
barbarism  to  humanity  no  less  than  from  rebellion  to 
obedience  :  in  the  Earl's  own  character  and  qualities  :  in 
the  nature  of  the  present  difficulty,  as  caused  by  former 
errors :  in  the  greatness  of  the  trust  committed  to  him, 
which  should  stimulate  him  to  deserve  it :  nay,  in  the 
very  thing  whicli  he  had  before  used  as  an  argument  of 
dissuasion  (for  the  same  appreliension  which  alarms  the 
judgment  may  serve  to  rouse  the  courage),  namely,  the 
difficulty  of  the  enterprise  and  the  nature  of  the  enemy  : 
all  which  considerations,  in  making  the  merit  of  success 
greater  might  be  expected  to  make  the  endeavor  more 
strenuous.  But  in  each  successive  note  of  encouragement 
there  is  heard  also  a  voice  of  warning,  sad  and  ominous. 
The  vision  of  success  which  "  some  good  spirit  leads  him 
to  presage  "  is  clouded  with  the  presentiment  of  an  ap- 
proaching catastrophe.  And  all  he  can  say  in  the  way 
of  advice  amounts  to  no  more  than  a  repetition  of  the 
old  warning,  to  seek  merit,  not  fame;  and  to  keep  within 
the  limits  of  obedience. 

The  date  of  the  letter  is  not  given  :  but  I   suppose  it 
was  written  in  March,  1599. 

A  LETTER   OF   ADVICE    TO    MY   LORD    OF    ESSEX,    IMME- 
DLiTELY   BEFORE   HIS   GOING   INTO   IRELAND. 

My  SINGULAR  GOOD  LoRD,  —  Your  late  note  of  my 
silence  in  vour  occasions  hath  made  me  set  down   these 


2i6  BACON'S  LETTER.  [Book  11. 

few  wandering  lines,  as  one  that  would  say  somewhat, 
and  can  say  nothing,  touching  your  Lordship's  intended 
charge  for  Ireland :  which  my  endeavor  I  know  your 
Lordship  will  accept  graciously ;  whether  your  Lordship 
take  it  by  the  handle  of  [the]  occasion  ministered  from 
yourself,  or  of  the  affection  from  which  it  proceeds. 

Your  Lordship  is  designed  to  a  service  of  great  merit 
and  great  peril;  and  as  the  greatness  of  the  peril  must 
needs  include  a  like  proportion  of  merit :  so  the  great- 
ness of  the  merit  may  include  no  small  consequence  oi 
peril,  if  it  be  not  temperately  governed.  For  all  immod- 
erate success  extinguisheth  merit,  and  stirreth  up  distaste 
and  envy  ;  the  assured  forerunners  of  whole  charges  of 
peril. 1  But  I  am  at  the  last  point  first,  some  good  spirit 
leading  my  pen  to  presage  to  your  Lordship  success ; 
wherein,  it  is  true,  I  am  not  without  my  oracles  and  div- 
inations ;  none  of  them  superstitious,  and  yet  not  all  nat- 
ural. For  first,  looking  into  the  course  of  God's  provi- 
dence in  things  now  depending,  and  calling  to  considera- 
tion how  great  things  God  hath  done  by  her  Majesty  and 
for  her;  I  collect  he  hath  disposed  of  this  great  defection 
in  L'eland,  tliereby  to  give  an  urgent  occasion  to  the  re- 
duction of  that  whole  kingdom  ;  as  upon  the  rebellion  of 
Desmond  there  ensued  the  reduction  of  that  whole  prov- 
ince. 

Next,  your  Ivordslii])  goeth  against  three  of  the  un- 
luckiest  vices  of  all  others.  Disloyalty,  Ingratitude,  and 
Insolency  ;  which  three  offenses,  in  ail  examples,  have 
seldom  tlicii"  doom  adjourned  to  the  world  to  come. 

Lastlv,  h(!  that  shall  have  Iiad'^  the  honor  to  know 
your  Lordship  iiiw:ii"dly,  as  I  ]iav(!  had,  shidl  find  /"jiki, 
exfa,  wht'rcl)y  iie  may  ground  a  better  divination  of  good 
than  upon  tlic;  dissection  of  a  sacrifice.  I>ut  that,  part  I 
lr;iv(s   for  it  is   (it   for  others   to  be  conlidi-ut    iij)oii    yon, 

'   So    in    livmnrilnliii;    Adil.     MS.    '>W.\    has    "the    asHurctl    fiiii  rtiiiiu'rH    of 
chaugcd."  '■'  Arte/ omitlffl  in  MS. 


1598-99.]  BACON'S  LETTER.  247 

and  you  to  be  confident^  upon  the  cause;  the  goodness 
and  justice  whereof  is  such  as  can  hardly  be  matched  in 
any  example  ;  it  being  no  ambitious  war  against  foreign- 
ers, but  a  recovery  of  subjects,  and  that  after  lenity  of 
conditions  often  tried ;  and  a  recovery  of  them  not  only 
to  obedience,  but  to  humanity  and  policy,  from  more 
than  Indian  barbarism. 

There  is  yet  another  kind  of  divination  familiar  in 
matters  of  state,  being  that  which  Demosthenes  so  often 
relieth  upon  in  his  time,  when  he  saith.  That  which  for 
the  time  past  is  ivorst  of  all,  is  for  the  time  to  come  the 
best :  lohich  is,  that  things  go  ill,  not  hy  accident,  hut  hy 
errors.  Wherein,  if  your  Loixlship  have  been  heretofore 
a  waking  censor,  you  must  look  for  no  other  now,  but 
Medice,  ciira  teipsum.  And  though  you  should  not  be 
the  blessed  2  physician  that  cometh  in  the  declination  of 
the  disease,  yet  you  embrace  that  condition  which  many 
noble  spirits  have  accepted  for  advantage;  which  is  that 
you  go  upon  the  greater  peril  of  your  fortune,  and  the 
less  of  your  reputation  ;  and  so  the  honor  couutervaileth 
the  adventure.  Of  which  honor  your  Lordship  is  in  no 
small  possession,  when  that  her  Majesty  (known  to  be 
one  of  the  most  judicious  princes  in  discerning  of  spirits 
that  ever  governed)  hath  made  choice  of  you  (merely 
out  of  her  royal  judgment,  her  affection  inclining  rather 
to  continue  your  attendance)  into  whose  hand  and  trust 
to  put  the  commandment  and  conduct  of  so  great  forces  ; 
the  gathering  of  the  fruit  of  so  great  charge  ;  the  execu- 
tion of  so  man}'  counsels  ;  the  redeeming  of  the  defaults 
of  so  many  former  governors  ;  and  the  clearing  of  the 
glory  of  so  many  and  happy  years'  reign,  only  in  this 
part  eclipsed.  Nay  further,  how  far  forth  the  peril  of 
that  State  is  interlaced  with  the  peril  of  England,  and 

1  So  Cabala;  Tlie  words  from  "upon"  to  "confident"  are  oiuittel  botli  ia 
tlie  MS.  and  in  the  Itesuscitatio. 
■■2  shall  and  happy  in  Resuscitntio. 


248  ADVICE  TO  ESSEX  BEFORE  HIS  GOING.  [Book  II. 

therefore  how  great  the  honor  is,  to  keep  and  defend  tlie 
approaches  or  avenues  of  this  kingdom,  I  hear  many  dis- 
course ;  and  indeed  there  is  a  great  difference,  whether  the 
tortoise  gather  herself  within  her  shell  hurt  or  unhurt. 

And  if  any  man  be  of  opinion,  that  the  nature  of  the 
enemy  doth  extenuate  the  honor  of  the  service,  being 
but  a  rebel  and  a  savage,  —  I  differ  from  him.  For  I 
see  the  justest  triumphs  that  the  Romans  in  their  great- 
ness did  obtain,  and  that  whereof  the  emperors  in  their 
styles  took  addition  and  denomination,  were  of  such  an 
enemy  as  this ;  that  is  people  barbarous  and  not  re- 
duced to  civility,  magnifying  a  kind  of  lawless  liberty, 
prodigal  in  life,  hardened  in  body,  fortified  in  woods 
and  bogs,  and  placing  both  justice  and  felicity  in  the 
sharpness  of  their  swords.  Such  were  the  Germans  and 
the  ancient  Britons,  and  divers  others.  Upon  which 
kind  of  people,  whether  the  victory  were  a  conquest, 
or  a  reconquest  upon  a  rebellion  or  a  revolt,  it  made 
no  difference  that  ever  I  could  find  in  honor.  And  there- 
fore it  is  not  the  eiu-iching  predatory  war  that  hath  the 
preeminence  of  honor,  ('ls(^  shouhl  it  be  more  honor  to 
bring  in  a  carrack  of  rich  burden  than  one  of  the  twelve 
Spanish  Apostles.  Hut  then  this  nature  of  people  doth 
yield  a  higher  point  of  honor,  considering  the  truth  and 
substance,^  than  any  war  can  yield  which  shouUl  be 
achieved  against  a  civil  enemy,  if  the  end  may  be  ^?a- 
cique  ^  hyijjonere  morem,  to  replant  and  refound  the  pol- 
icy of  that  nation  ;  to  which  nothing  is  wanting,  but  a 
just  and  civil  government.  Which  design  as  it  doth  de- 
scend unto  you  from  your  noble  father  who  lost  his  life 
in  that  action  (though  he  paiti  Iriliuti;  to  nature  and  not 
to  fortune),  HO  I  hoj)0  yoin*  Lordshi]*  shall  be  as  fatal  a 
captain  to  tiiis  war  as  Afi'icauus  was  to  the  war  of  ('ar- 
thage,  after  that  both  his  uncle  and  father  liad  lost  their 

1  considererl  in  Irnlh  nml  unhitance:  l{(H)iscilulio. 

2  So  all  tlic  cfipicH. 


1508-!M),]  ADVICE   TO   ESSEX    BEFORE   IIIS   (i()IX(i.  249 

lives  in  Spain  in  the  same  war.  Now  although  it  be  true 
that  these  things  which  I  write,  being  but  representations 
unto  your  Lordship  of  the  honor  and  appearance  of  suc- 
cess of  tlie  enterprise,  be  not  much  to  the  purpose  of  any 
advice  ;  yet  it  is  that  which  is  left  to  me,  being  no  man 
of  war,  and  ignorant  in  the  particulars  of  State.  For  a 
man  may  by  the  eye  set  up  the  white  right  in  the  midst 
of  the  butt,  though  he  be  no  archer.  Therefore  I  will 
only  add  this  wish,  according  to  the  English  phrase, 
which  terms  a  well-willing  advice  a  wish  :  that  your 
Lordship  in  this  whole  action,  looking  forward,  would  set 
down  this  position.  That  merit  is  worthier  than  fame ; 
and  looking  back  hither,  would  remember  this^  text, 
That  obedience  is  better  than  sacrifice.  For  designing 
to  fame  and  glory  may  make  your  Lordship  in  the  ad- 
venture of  your  person  to  be  valiant  as  a  private  soldier, 
rather  than  as  a  General ;  it  may  make  you  in  your  com- 
mandments rather  to  be  gracious  than  disciplinary ;  it 
may  make  you  press  action  (in  respect  of  the  great  ex- 
pectation conceived)  rather  hastily  than  seasonably  and 
safely ;  it  may  make  y^ou  seek  rather  to  achieve  the  war 
by  fine  force,  than  by  intermixture  of  practice;  it  may 
make  you  (if  God  shall  send  prosperous  beginnings) 
rather  seek  the  fruition  of  that  honor,  than  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  work  in  hand.  And  for  the  other  point,  that 
is  the  proceeding  like  a  good  Protestant  upon  express 
warrant,  and  not  upon  good  intention,  your  Lordship 
knoweth  in  your  wisdom  that  as  it  is  most  fit  for  you  to 
desire  convenient  liberty  of  instructions,  so  it  is  no  less 
fit  for  you  to  observe  the  due  limits  of  them;  remember- 
ing that  the  exceeding  of  them  may  not  only  procure  in 
case  of  adverse  accident  a  dangerous  disavow ;  but  also 
in  case  of  prosperous  success  be  subject  to  interpretation, 
9,3  if  all  were  not  referred  to  the  right  end. 

1  So  Resuscitatio.     The  words  from   "position"  to    "tliis"  arc  omitted  ia 
the  MS. 


:50        IRISH  CAMPAIGN:.  OBJECTS   AND   PURPOSES.       [B-.ok  II. 

Thus  have  I  presumed  to  write  these  few  Hues  to  your 
Lordship,  in  methodo  ig  nor  ant  ice  ;  which  is  when  a  man 
speaketh  of  a  subject  not  according  to  the  parts  of  the 
matter,  but  according  to  the  model  of  his  own  knowl- 
edge ;  and  I  most  humbly  desire  your  Lordship,  that  the 
weakness  thereof  may  be  supplied  in  your  Lordship  by 
a  benign  acceptation,  as  it  is  in  me  by  my  best  wishing. 

The  Earl  set  out  on  the  •27th  of  INIarch,  1599,  with 
great  popular  expectation  and  acclamation,  but  with 
strange  and  serious  misgivings  on  the  part  of  other 
people  besides  Bacon,  among  those  who  had  better 
means  of  judging.  A  very  confidential  letter  of  advice 
and  warning  addressed  to  Sir  John  Harington  by  a  friend 
and  kinsman  holding  some  office  about  the  court,  and 
printed  in  the  "  Nugie  Antiquoe,"  gives  us  a  glimpse  be- 
hind the  curtain  :  — 

"  I  hear  you  are  to  go  to  Ireland  with  the  Lieuteuaut,  Essex. 

If  so,  mark  my  counsel Observe  the  man  who  command- 

eth,  and  yet  is  commanded  himself;  he  goeth  not  forth  to  serve 

the  Queen's  realm,  but  to  humor  his  own  revenge If  the 

Lord  Deputy  performs  in  the  field  what  he  hath  promised  in  the 
Council,  all  will  he  well ;  hut  though  the  Queen  hath  granted 
forgiveness  for  his  late  demeanor  in  her  presence,  we  know  not 
what  to  think  hereof.  She  hath  in  all  outward  semblance  placed 
confiilence  in  the  man  who  so  lately  sought  other  treatment  at 
her  han<ls  ;  we  do  sometime  think  one  way  and  sometime  another. 
....  You  have  now  a  secret  from  one  that  wisheth  you  all 
welfare  and  honor ;  I  know  there  are  overlookers  set  on  you  all, 
so  God  direct  your  discretion.  Sir  William  Knolles  is  not  well 
pleased,  tli<!  (^ueen  is  not  well  pleased,  the  Lonl  Deputy  may 
he  pleasefl  now,  but  I  sore  fear  what  may  happen  liereafler." 
And  more  in  the  same  strain. 

These  were  conjectures  no  doubt,  drawn  fioin  dark 
hints  and  rumors  of  the  Court;  but  they  were  conjeo 
ture.s  f(jrm«!d  at  the  time  by  lookers-on    not  personally 


t598-!)!).]       IRISH   CAMPAIGN:    OBJECTS   AND   rUUl'OSF.S.  2')1 

implicated,  and  when  questions  arise  hereafter  as  to  the 
objects  with  which  Essex  undertook  and  entered  upon  his 
task,  it  is  fit  they  should  be  renienibered.  And  to  me  I 
must  confess  that  however  gayly  and  hopefully  he  ex- 
pi-essed  himself  to  private  friends  like  Harington  and 
Bacon, 1  the  tone  of  his  letters  to  the  Government  from 
the  very  first  seems  less  like  that  of  a  man  undertaking 
either  a  hopeful  enterprise  with  spirit  or  an  unhopeful 
one  with  resolution,  than  of  one  who  is  preparing  to  quar- 
rel with  his  employers  and  throw  upon  them  the  respon- 
sibility for  what  may  happen.  All  his  demands  are  for 
increase  of  strength  and  authority.  As  fast  as  one  is 
granted  he  makes  another.  And  upon  the  least  demur 
comes  always  the  querulous  warning  that  if  things  go 
wrong  it  is  not  his  fault.  A  little  before  he  had  pro- 
posed to  make  the  Earl  of  Southampton  (a  man  then 
imder  the  Queen's  displeasure,  but  entirely  devoted  to 
liimself)  General  of  the  Horse ;  and  when  the  Queen 
"  showed  a  dislike  of  his  having  any  office,"  he  had  told 
her  that  she  might  revoke  his  commission  if  she  would, 
but  if  she  meant  him  to  execute  it  "  he  must  work  with 
his  own  instruments."  And  now  immediately  upon  his 
departure,  when  he  was  yet  no  further  on  his  way  than 
Bromley,  we  find  him  insisting  in  the  same  peremptory 
fashion  upon  the  appointment  of  his  step-father.  Sir 
Christopher  Blount,  to  a  seat  in  the  Irish  Council.  Sir 
Christopher  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  a  man  who  was 
ready  (as  appeared  afterwards)  to  go  almost  all  ^  lengths 
of  disloyalty  with  him.  The  Queen  had  agreed  that  he 
should  accompany  him  as  Marshal  of  the  Army  ;  where- 
upon Essex  applied  to  have  him  made  a  Councillor  also ; 
which  being  refused,  he  replied  that  in  that  case  he 
should  not  want  him,  and  had  therefore  sent  him  back. 

1  "  Confessing  that  your  Lordship,  in  your  last  conference  with  nie  before 
your  journey,  spake  not  in  vain,  God  raaking'it  good,  that  you  trusted  we  say, 
Quis  putasset.'      See  further  on,  p.  272. 

2  Not  all ;  see  p.  270. 


2o2       IRISH  CAMPAIGN:  DEMANDS  AND  COMPLAINTS.    [Book  II. 

'^  I  have  returned  Sir  Christopher  lUount  whom  I  ho[)('(l 
to  have  carried  over ;  for  I  shall  have  no  such  necessary 
use  of  his  hands,  as  being  debarred  the  use  of  his  head  I 
would  carry  him  to  his  own  disadvantage  and  the  dis- 
grace of  the  place  he  should  serve  in.  Hereof  I  thought 
fit  to  advertise  your  Lordships,  that  you  might  rather 
pity  than  expect  extraordinary  successes  from  me."  So 
he  wrote  to  the  Council  on  the  1st  of  April ;  charging  the 
bearer  at  the  same  time  with  a  verbal  message  for  the 
Queen  to  this  effect ;  he  would  do  his  best  to  discharge 
both  ofhces  himself,  but  begged  that  his  successor  might 
quickly  be  sent  after  him,  —  for  "  he  that  should  do  two 
such  offices,  and  discharge  them  as  he  ought,  should  not 
value  his  life  at  many  months'  purchase."  And  though 
he  can  hardly  have  meant  so  petulant  a  proceeding  to  be 
well  taken,  the  offense  which  it  naturally  gave  was  ac- 
cepted as  another  grievance.  "  As  for  Sir  Christopher 
Blount's  ill-success,  or  rather  mine  for  him,  I  fear  it  will  be 
semble  to  all  my  speed  when  1  sue  or  move  for  anything. 
I  sued  to  her  Majesty  to  grant  it  out  of  favor,  but  I  spake 
a  language  that  was  not  understood,  or  to  a  goddess  not 
at  leisure  to  hear  prayers.  I  since,  not  for  ni}^  sake  but 
for  her  service  sake,  desired  to  have  it  granted  ;  but  I 
see,  let  me  plead  in  any  form,  it  is  in  vain.  I  must  save 
myself  by  protestation  that  it  is  not  Tyrone;  and  the 
Irish  rebellion  that  amazeth  me,  but  to  see  myself  sent 
of  such  an  errand,  at  such  a  time,  with  so  little  comfort 
or  ability  from  the  Court  of  England  to  effect  that  I  go 
about."  To  leave  Sir  Christopjier  behind,  however,  was 
not  his  intention.  lie  had  not  n'ally  siMit  him  bat'k  ;  and 
upon  a  second  letter  from  the  Council,  he  agree<l,  tiiough 
he  were  "  utterly  iiiiproviih-d  of  all  things  necessary  for 
.such  a  journey,"  to  taUc;  him.  "  Hut,  my  Lords,"  lie 
added,  "  it  must  Ik;  all  our  devout  ])rayers  to  God  and  our 
liumble  suit  to  her  Majesty  that  sIk;  will  be  as  well 
served   by  her  vassals   as   obeyed  ;   and   that  when   she 


1593-99.]      IRISH   CAMPAIGN:    OBJECTS   AND  PURPOSES.  2;">3 

grants  not  the  ability  she  will  not  exjDect  nor  exact  great 
performance.  For  ra3'self,  if  things  succeed  ill  in  my 
charge  I  am  like  to  be  a  martyr  for  her;  but  as  your 
Lordships  have  many  times  heard  me  say,  it  had  been  far 
better  for  her  service  to  have  sent  a  man  favored  by  her, 
who  shoukl  not  have  had  these  crosses  and  discourage- 
ments which  I  shall  ever  suffer.  Of  your  Lordships  I  do 
entreat  that  you  will  forget  my  person  and  the  circum- 
stances of  it,  but  remember  that  I  am  her  Majesty's 
minister  in  the  greatest  cause  that  ever  she  had  ;  that 
though  to  keep  myself  from  scorn  and  misery  it  shall  be 
in  mine  own  power,  yet  to  enable  me  to  reduce  that  re- 
bellious kingdom  of  Ireland  to  obedience  lies  in  her 
jNIajesty  ;  for  if  I  have  not  inward  comfort  and  outward 
demonstration  of  her  Majesty's  favor,  I  am  defeated  in 
England." 

All  this  comes  from  a  man  who  is  settinsc  out  at  the 
head  of  an  arm}'  of  16,000  foot  and  1,500  horse  —  an 
army  "  as  great  as  himself  required,  and  such  for  number 
and  strength  as  Ii-eland  had  never  seen  ;  "  carrying  with 
him  "  three  months'  pay  beforehand,  and  likewise  victual, 
munition,  and  all  habiliments  of  war  whatsoever,  with 
attendance  of  shipping  allowed  and  furnished  in  a  suit- 
able proportion,  and  to  the  full  of  all  his  own  demands  ;  " 
with  commission  "  to  command  peace  or  war,  to  truce, 
parley,  or  such  matter  as  seemeth  best  for  the  enterprise 
and  the  good  of  the  realm  ; "  to  pardon  all  treasons  and 
offenses;  to  bestow  almost  all  offices;  to  remove  all  offi- 
cers not  holding  by  patent,  and  suspend  such  as  held  by 
patent ;  to  make  martial  laws  and  punish  the  ti-ans- 
gressors ;  to  dispose  of  the  lands  of  rebels ;  to  command 
the  ships;  to  issue  treasure  to  the  amount  of  £300,000 
by  the  year,  with  liberty,  by  consent  and  advice  of  the 
Irish  Council,  "  to  alter  that  which  was  signed  by  tlie 
Lords  in  England,"  —  provided  only  that  he  did  not  ex- 
ceed the  sum  of   the  establishment ;  —  and  all  because 


2')4      IRISH  CAMPAIGN:  DEMANDS  AND  COMPI.ArNTS.     [Uook  II. 

one  devoted  dependent  was  not  to  have  a  seat  in  CoiuiL-il. 
Next  came  complaints  about  the  arrangements  for  vict- 
ualling, paying,  and  recruiting  the  army,  —  complaints 
which  must  at  any  rate  have  been  premature,  —  but  ex- 
pressed in  the  same  style  and  still  ending  with  the  same 
burden  :  "  compassion  I  myself  shall  not  greatly  need,  for 
whatsoever  the  success  may  be,  yet  I  shall  be  sure  of  a 
fair  destiny.  Only  her  Majesty  and  your  Lordships 
must  and  will,  I  doubt  not,  pity  Ireland,  and  pity  the 
army  under  my  charge,  lest  if  you  suffer  your  men  in  an 
out  ravelin  to  be  lost,  you  be  hardly  afterwards  able  to 
defend  the  ram  pier." 

All  this,  it  will  be  observed,  was  on  the  way  between 
London  and  Beaumaris,  before  he  had  arrived  at  the 
scene  of  action,  and  while  his  commission  was  not  a  fort- 
night old.  And  never  surely  was  a  foiniidable  enter- 
prise commenced  in  a  humor  so  inauspicious;  a  humor 
wliich  in  a  man  pcM-sonally  brave  ami  constitutionally 
sangiiiiK'  is  V(!ry  hard  to  understand,  \\ithont  supposing 
that  he  h:id  something  or  otlicr  in  his  licad  besides  the 
faithful  performance  of  it. 

Still  harder  is  it  without  some  such  supposition  to 
understand  his  proceedings  after  he  did  arrive  at  the 
sceiM!  of  action.  Whatever  differences  of  opinion  there 
had  been  in  \\\o.  Council,  upon  one  point  they  were  all 
agi-eed  —  that  the  attack  was  to  be  upon  the  heart  and 
stronghold  of  the  rebellion,  and  that  measures  weic^  to 
be  taken  to  keep  the  niast(M'y  when  gained  :  a  policy 
which  no  one  had  urged  more  vehemenlly  than  hiuisell". 
On  tlu!  11th  of  April,  when  he  was  on  th<>  point  of  em- 
barking, Ik;  had  censured  tlu;  "drawing  of  tin;  troops 
into  iille  miserable,  joiu'iuiys,  whereby  he  should  Hud 
them  unserviceable  when  he  (;am(s"  as  a  main  error  of 
the  Irish  Governuieiit,  i'e<|uiring  his  instant  prescMice  to 
correct.  On  tin;  ir)th  he  landed  in  I)id>lin,  and  called 
for  a  re])ort  of  the  state  oi.  the  country.     He  found  that 


1598-99.]      IRISH  CAMPAIGN:  MARCH  THROUGH  MUXSTKR.        255 

the  rt'bel  forces  uinounted  altogether  to  upwards  of 
18,000  foot  and  upwards  of  2,000  horse  ;  that  nearly  half 
of  these  were  in  Ulster,  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
island,  Tyrone's  own  country,  from  which  the  whole 
rebellion  was  nourished  and  spread ;  that  in  Leinster, 
the  central  province  lying  round  the  English  pale,  there 
were  about  3,000  ;  in  Connaught,  to  the  west,  about  as 
many  more ;  and  in  Munster,  the  southwestern  ex- 
tremity, most  distant  from  the  heart  of  the  rebellion, 
and  in  which  all  the  cities  and  port  towns,  almost  all 
the  castles,  and  many  great  lords  and  gentlemen  still 
held  for  the  Queen,  —  about  5,000:  also  that  Tyrone 
meant  to  make  two  several  heads  of  rebellion,  one  in 
Ulster,  and  the  other  in  Connaught.  How  then  will  he 
begin? 

He  j^roposed  to  begin  with  an  attack  on  Tyrone  in 
Ulster.  But  being  advised  by  the  Council  to  put  it  off 
till  the  middle  of  June  or  the  beginning  of  July,  when 
grass  and  forage  would  be  more  plentiful,  cattle  fatter, 
and  means  of  conveyance  more  complete,  he  readily  ac- 
quiesced ;  and  as  he  acquiesced  on  this  occasion  without 
complaining  of  crosses  and  discouragements,  I  presume 
that  he  had  no  personal  inclination  the  other  way.  In- 
stead of  a  march  towards  Ulster  then,  a  "present  prosecu- 
tion in  Leinster,  being  the  heart  of  the  whole  kingdom," 
was  resolved  on.  This  resolution  having  been  forwarded 
to  the  Council  in  England  on  the  28th  of  April,  and  al- 
lowed by  them  on  the  8th  of  May,  on  the  10th  he  set  out 
—  professedly  to  set  on  foot  this  "  present  prosecution  in 
Leinster."  And  if  six  weeks  must  pass  before  the  main 
action  could  be  attempted  with  advantage,  it  would  cer- 
tainly seem  that  they  might  have  been  well  spent  in  re- 
covering and  makmg  secure  those  parts  which  lay  next 
to  the  seat  of  Government  and  within  easy  reach  of  all 
resources, — a  work  which  might  serve  to  exercise  the 
army  without  wasting  it.     This,  however,  was  not  what 


256     IRISH  CAMPAIGN:  MARCH  THROUGH  MUNSTER.     [Book  H. 

he  did,  or  attempted,  or  apparently  ever  intended,  to  do. 
He  began,  it  is  true,  with  a  niarcli  through  Leinster,  for 
he  had  to  march  through  it  before  he  could  get  out  of  it. 
But  he  took  his  course  straight  for  the  borders  of  Mun- 
ster.  No  sooner  was  he  there  than  lie  sent  word  that  he 
had  been  persuaded  by  the  president  of  that  province 
"for  a  few  days  to  look  into  his  government."  And 
thereupon,  without  waiting  for  instructions  from  either 
Council,  he  proceeded  to  march  his  troops  up  and  down 
Munster,  —  to  the  south  as  far  as  Clonmel  on  the  south- 
ern border  of  Tipperary,  then  to  the  northeast  as  far  as 
Askeaton  on  the  northern  border  of  Limerick,  then  south 
again  as  far  as  Killmalloch ;  tlience  (the  necessities  of  the 
army,  now  short  of  food  and  ammunition,  obliging  him 
to  think  of  returning)  southeast  to  Dungarvon,  and  so 
alonor  the  southern  and  eastern  shores  to  Waterford,  to 
Arklow,  and  back  to  Dublin; — forcing  liis  passage 
everywhere  through  the  rebel  skirmishers,  who  gave  way 
before  him  and  closed  after  him  ;  taking  and  garrisoning 
liere  and  there  a  stronghold  ;  displaying  much  personal 
activity  and  bravery,  —  a  shining  figure  still  in  the  eyes 
of  the  soldiers  and  probably  in  his  own  :  welcomed  Avith 
Jjatin  orations  and  ])opular  applause  as  he  entered  the 
principal  towns;  and  writing  ]»hiintive  letters  home 
about  ill-usage  and  discouragement ;  '  but  exhausting  his 
troops,  consuming  his  supplies,  and  getting  nothing  ef- 
fectually done;  —  insomuch  that  when  he  returned  to 
Dublin  on  the  ^d  of  July,  —  the  season  when  it  had  been 
agreed  that  the  great  business  of  the  campaign  was  to 
begin,  —  though  the  grass  liad  grown  and  cattle  were  in 
condition  and  the  means  of  transport  ready,  the  army 
(what  with  marches,  skirmishes,  garrisons,  disease,  and 
decimation)  was  more  than  half  wasted  away,  and  the 
remnant  greatly  discouraged. 

1  "  IJiit  \\\\\  <l<i  I  talk  <if  victory  or  siicci'.ss?    Is  it  not  known  lliiit  from  Eng- 
land I  receive  nothing  but  di»coinforts  and  soul's  wounds?     Is  it  not  spoken  of 


1598-99.]         IRISH  CAMPAIGN:  MARCH  IXTO  ULSTER.  257 

Still  as  in  this  matter  at  least  he  had  taken  his  own 
way  entirely,  his  only  complaint  being  that  the  way  he 
had  taken  was  not  better  liked  at  home,  to  plead  inabil- 
ity now  to  proceed  with  the  appointed  work  would  have 
been  to  admit  his  own  error.  And  therefore,  all  disad- 
vantages notwithstanding,  —  disadvantages  to  whom  at- 
tributable he  does  not  say,  —  he  professed  himself  ready 
to  undertake  it.  "Albeit  the  poor  men  that  marched  with 
me  eight  weeks  together  be  very  weary  and  unfit  for  any 
new  journey,  and  besides  the  horsemen  so  divided  that 
T  cannot  draw  300  to  an  head,  yet  as  fast  as  I  can  call 
these  tiX)ops  together  I  will  go  look  npon  yonder  proud 
rebel ;  and  if  I  find  him  on  hard  ground  and  in  an  open 
country,  though  I  should  find  him  in  horse  and  foot  three 
for  one,  yet  will  I  by  God's  grace  dislodge  him,  or  put 
the  Council  to  the  trouble  of  choosing  a  new  Lord  Jus- 
tice." This  was  written  on  the  lltli  of  July.  So  that  if 
Tyrone  should  prove  fool  enough  to  quit  his  position  of 
advantage  and  risk  his  cause  in  a  battle  on  open  ground, 
something  might  yet  be  done  towards  the  accomplishment 
of  the  one  object  for  which  Essex  had  been  sent  out. 
He  might  be  beaten  back  into  his  woods  and  bogs. 

This  it  seems  was  all :  but  even  for  this  matters  were 
not  yet  quite  ripe.  For  the  recommendation  of  the  Irish 
Council  to  employ  the  interval  in  making  things  secuie 
in  Leinster  having  all  this  time  been  utterly  neglected, 
it  now  appeared  that  there  was  work  to  be  done  there 
before  the  Ulster  expedition  could  be  commenced.  So 
before  the  dispatch  of  the  11th  of  July  could  be  answered, 
a  second  had  arrived  reporting  disorders  in  Ophaly  and 
Leix  which  Essex  was  going  in  person  to  subdue.^  These 
do  not  seem  to  have  been  so  formidable  but  that  a  second 
in  command  might  have  been  trusted  to  deal  with  them, 

in  the  army,  that  your  Majesty's  favor  is  diverted  froin  me,"  etc.,  and  a  page 

more  of  the  like.  Essex  to  the  Queen.    June  25. 
1  Camden, 
vou  I.  17 


2.38  IRISH   CAMPAIGN:    MAKCH  INTO  ULSTER.        [Book  I[ 

for  tlii'y  wt-re  easily  suppressed,  but  they  were  enough  to 
cause  further  clehiy  ^  and  to  reduce  yet  more  the  effective 
strength  of  the  army :  insomuch  that  the  Earl  now  de- 
clared he  could  not  go  against  Tyrone  without  a  reinforce- 
ment of  2,000  men.  If  he  expected  a  denial,  which  might 
h;ive  served  for  an  excuse,  he  was  disappointed.  A  rein- 
forcement of  2,000  men  from  England  had  been  sent  in 
July,  and  he  now  received  authority  to  levy  2,000  Irish 
besides.^  And  though  the  Irish  Council  began  now  to 
dissuade  the  enterprise  altogether,  he  was  resolved  to 
proceed  with  it.  But  first,  in  order  to  divide  Tyrone's 
forces,  he  ordei'ed  Sir  Conyers  Clilford,  Governor  of  Con- 
naught,  to  make  an  attack  or  demonstration  vipon  liis 
western  borders  —  himself,  the  better  perhaps  to  tlirow 
him  off  his  fjuard  on  tlie  south  and  east,  remainiuir  still  in 
Dublin.  What  effect  this  might  have  had  we  cannot 
know  ;  for  at  the  end  of  the  second  day's  march  Sir  Con- 
yers's  whole  force  was,  through  sonu^,  of  the  unaccounta- 
ble accidents  of  war,  repulsed  in  a  ])ass  by  a  party  of 
rebels  not  above  a  third  of  their  number,  himself  slain, 
and  the  expedition  stopped. 

By  this  time  August  was  half  spent,  and  Tyi-one  had 
not  yet  been  so  much  as  harassed  or  put  on  his  defense. 
But  now  P^ssex  was  really  determined  to  do  sonu>thing. 
It  was  time;  "  to  ])ull  down  the  pride  of  the  arch-traitor, 
to  redeem  the  late  scorn  of  the  Curlews  (the  scene  of 
Clifford's  disaster),  and  hold  up  tin;  reputation  of  the 
army."  Ih'  must  "  revenge  or  follow  worthv  Convers 
Clifford."  Ulster  was  to  be  invaded  at  last.  And  now 
the  Lords,  Colonels,  and  Knights  of  the  army  were  called 
into    Council,  to  say  "in   what    sort  a    present   journey 

1  News  of  tin;  huccchs  reached  ICnglaiid  on  the  5th  (»f  August.  Syl.  Fuji.,  ii., 
113. 

'■!  "  IJcsidcs  the  sii|>iilirs  of  two  Ihoiisaiul  (irrlviiif/  in  .hthj,  he  hml  ,'uithnrity  to 
raiMe  two  thoiiMaml  Irishiiii-n,  which  he  [irocuretl  l)y  lii-«  h'ltcrs  out  of  Ireland 
with  pretense  to  further  the  northern  journey." — Proceedings  of  thi^  I'.arl  of  ICs- 
»ex.  If  the  dale  .Inly  lie  correct,  the  two  thousand  from  Knglaud  must  havo 
been  nent  upon  a  previonn  requlHition. 


1598-99.]  IRISH  CAMPAIGN:    MARCH   INTO  ULSTER.  259 

thither  might  be  made.  "  Their  answer  was  that  "  they 
could  not  with  duty  to  her  Majesty  and  safety  of  this 
kingdom  advise  or  assent  to  the  undertaking  of  any  jour- 
ney far  north  ;  "  their  reason  being  in  substance  this  — ■ 
that  the  effective  strength  of  the  army  being  now  not 
more  than  3,500  or  4,000  at  the  most,  it  would  not  be 
practicable  to  secure  any  of  the  objects  of  such  a  journey. 
This  report,  dated  21st  of  August,  the  Earl  forwarded 
to  England,  —  not  however  as  a  reason  for  abandoning 
the  expedition  altogether,  but  by  way  of  preparation  for 
the  issue  of  it.  For  he  still  meant  to  "  look  upon  "  Ty- 
rone, and  give  him  the  opportunity  of  having  his  pride 
pulled  down,  if  he  chose  to  accept  it. 

How  it  came  that  a  two  months'  campaign  in  summer 
without  any  considerable  action  had  reduced  an  army  of 
16,000,  lately  increased  by  2,000  more,  to  "  4,000  at  the 
most,  "  does  not  appear  to  have  been  explained.  One  ex- 
planation which  suggested  itself  was  that  a  large  portion 
had  been  placed  up  and  down  the  country  in  garrisons, 
in  which  case  it  might  be  forthcoming  for  other  work, 
though  not  for  this.  And  the  whole  story  was  so  strange 
that  the  Queen  began  to  suspect  some  underhand  design, 
and  to  speak  freely  of  Essex's  proceedings  as  '*  unfortu- 
nate, without  judgment,  contemptuous,  and  not  without 
some  private  end  of  his  own.  "  To  Bacon  among  others 
she  spoke  in  this  strain  :  whereupon  he,  who  as  I  have 
already  observed  was  not  without  his  own  apprehensions 
on  that  head,  antl  was  extremely  anxious  to  withdraw 
Esacx  from  the  means  of  mischief,  took  occasion  to  ask 
whether  it  would  not  be  better  to  send  for  him  and 
satisfy  him  with  honor  at  home,  and  to  have  him  at  Court 
again  "  with  a  white  staff  in  his  hand  as  my  Lord  of 
Leicester  had;  "  for,  said  he,  "  to  discontent  him  as  you 
do  and  yet  to  put  arms  and  power  into  his  hand  may  be 
a  kind  of  temptation  to  make  him  prove  cumbersome 
and  unruly."  ^  This  advice  however  —  whether  from 
1  Apology. 


260  IRISH  CAMPAIGN:    PARLEY  AND  TRUCE.        [Book  II. 

fear  to  provoke  him  further,  as  Camden  suggests,  or  be- 
cause (as  I  think  mure  likely)  she  had  gone  long  enough 
on  the  plan  of  buying  off  his  contumacies  with  rewards 
—  she  did  not  think  fit  to  follow.  She  had  already 
(30th  July)  forbidden  him  to  leave  his  post  without 
license,  and  now  (taking  the  precaution  of  putting  the 
country  under  arms  upon  pretense  of  an  apprehended  at- 
tack from  Spain)  she  resolved  to  demand  from  him  a  strict 
account  of  what  he  had  done  and  what  he  meant  to  do. 
He  in  the  mean  time,  having  (as  I  said)  for  some  rea- 
son or  other  resolved  to  prove  to  Tyrone  that  he  was  not 
afraid  of  coming  within  sight  of  him,  though  at  the  cost 
of  proving  that  he  durst  do  no  more,  had  taken  his  usual 
precaution  against  interference.^  Without  waiting  for 
the  effect  of  his  last  intelligence,  he  made  his  prepara- 
tions, and  within  a  week  was  on  his  march  to  fulfill  his 
promise  of  "looking  on  yonder  proud  rebel;"  having 
meanwhile  merely  sent  word  to  England  that  he  could 
not  spare  for  the  service  more  than  2,500  men.  On  the 
3d  of  September  he  did  look  upon  liim  ;  saw  him,  with  a 
force  twice  as  large  as  his  own,  on  a  hill  a  mile  and  a 
half  off,  across  a  river  and  a  wood ;  and  drew  up  his  own 
army  on  the  opposite  hill  ;  next  day  marched  along  the 
])lain,  Tyrone  marching  parallel  but  keeping  the  woods; 
llit'n  halting  for  supplies,  took  counsel;  was  advised  by 
all  not  to  "attempt  trenches  "  with  a  force  so  inadequate, 
but  to  content  himself  with  placing  a  strong  garrison  in 
some  castle  thereabouts,  and  "  since  they  were  tliere^''  to 
draw  out  one  day  and  offer  battle  ;  on  the  tOth  refused  an 
invitation  to  parley  ;  on  the  6th  drew  out  and  offered 
batth^  on  the  first  great  liill  lie  came  to,  (hen  on  the  next 
and  the  next  till  he  came  to  the  hill  nearest  tlx;  wood  ; 
then;  waited:   in  vain:    'J'yi-on'>  wf)uld   not  chai-ge  up  hill 

I  It  must  liitvc  Itccn  nt  IIiIh  tiinu  (liut  Ik-  cDiiiniunicuted  to  liloiinl  and  Smitli- 
ampton  Iiis  dftifjii  of  Koiii^j  ovor  to  Knglanil  willi  his  army,  —  if  tiieri!  be  iia 
tni!<tai;(r  in  Hloiiiit'ii  last  uxainination.     Sec,  below,  )i.  20'J. 


1598-99.]  IRISH   CAMPAIGN:    PARLEY   AND   TRUCK.  '261 

(indeed  why  should  he  fight  at  all?  had  he  not  by  sim- 
ply staying  where  he  was  already  in  effect  defeated  the 
greatest  army  ever  seen  in  Ireland  ?),  but  wanted  to 
speak  with  him  ;  on  the  7th  accepted  an  invitation  to 
parley  ;  met  the  proud  rebel  at  a  ford ;  talked  with  him 
privately  for  half  an  hour ;  and  finding  him  reluctant  to 
state  upon  what  conditions  he  would  return  to  obedience, 
for  fear  they  should  be  sent  into  Spain  (!),  "was  fain 
to  give  his  word  that  he  would  only  verbally  deliver 
them  ; '  on  that  condition  heard  them  ;  next  day  con- 
cluded a  truce  with  him  for  six  weeks,  continuable  by 
periods  of  six  weeks  till  May-day,  and  not  to  be  broken 
Avithout  a  fortnight's  warning ;  for  the  performance  of 
the  covenants  received  Tyrone's  oath  in  exchange  for  his 
own  word ;  on  the  9tli  "  dispersed  his  army  ;  and  went 
himself  to  take  physic  at  Drogheda,  while  Tyrone  re- 
tired with  all  his  forces  into  the  heart  of  his  country." 

Such  then  was  the  sum  of  Essex's  achievement.  He 
had  not  weakened  Tyi-one  by  hurting  a  man  or  occupy- 
ing a  place  of  strength  or  obtaining  an  advantage  any- 
where north  of  Dublin.  But  he  had  heard  him  "  open 
his  heart  "  —  learned  "  where  the  knot  was  which  being 
loosed  he  protested  all  the  rest  should  follow  ;  "  ^  and  in 
the  mean  time  had  gained  from  him  a  promise  upon  his 
oath  not  to  renew  hostilities  without  giving  a  fortnight's 
notice. 

What  more  he  hojjed  to  effect  by  negotiation  after- 
wards, or  what  success  he  might  have  had,  we  cannot 
judge  ;  for  Tyrone's  promises  were  not  to  be  committed 
to  paper,  and  after  this  he  was  not  himself  allowed  to  do 
what  he  pleased.  But  it  is  important  to  observe  that  up 
to  this  point  all  he  had  done  was  both  in  design  and  ex- 
ecution his  own  doing.  For  though  many  of  his  pro- 
ceedings had  been  disapproved,  he  had  so  contrived  that 
not  one  of  them  could  be  prevented.  There  is  no  dis- 
1  Essex's  own  statement.    See  further  on,  p.  279. 


262  IRISH   CAMPAIGN:    PARLEY  AND  TRUCE.        [Rook  II. 

[)ute  about  any  of  tlie  facts  which  I  have  related  ;  for  I 
have  coiiliiied  myself  to  such  as  were  then  known  and 
were  never  contradicted.  Those  which  came  out  after- 
wards (when  his  later  actions  leading  to  more  diligent 
inquiry  suggested  an  interpretation  of  these  which  had 
not  yet  been  suspected)  will  be  more  conveniently  no- 
ticed hereafter.  It  is  enough  here  to  remark  that  the 
story  as  it  stands  is  strange  —  that  the  course  he  has 
taken  requires  explanation,  and  is  not  at  all  explained  by 
the  admitted  facts  of  the  case  compared  with  the  avowed 
objects  of  the  campaign.  For  though  I  should  myself  be 
inclined  to  make  a  good  deal  of  allowance  for  him  on  the 
ground  of  natural  incapacity  —  incapacity  to  resist  the 
impulse  of  the  moment  —  and  could  almost  believe  that 
his  campaign  in  Munster  was  made  in  good  faith,  each 
successive  move  being  suggested  by  the  hope  of  gaining 
some  prize  or  the  necessity  of  avoiding  some  danger  near 
at  iiand,  without  due  consideration  of  the  main  issue  ; 
and  that  the  exhaustion  of  his  forces  before  the  proper 
business  of  the  campaign  had  begun  really  came  u[)on 
him  as  a  surprise  ;  yet  when  I  consider  the  avowed  pur- 
])oses  with  which  lie  set  out,  and  his  reputation  as  a  com- 
mander not  oidy  with  tin?  Government  but  with  the  cap- 
tains of  his  army  (who  do  not  usually  like  an  incompetent 
general)  ;  and  especially  when  I  read  his  own  letters, 
which  whih?  they  complain  so  ])iteously  of  his  hard  con- 
dition in  not  receiving  public?  and  private  demonstrations 
<t'  eoiilideiKM',  show  no  trace  of  dissalisfaetion  with  him- 
scilf  (^r  his  own  proceedings  ;  I  certainly  iiiid  it  hard  to 
believe,  that  an  etVeetual  attack  uj)on  the  sti-onghohl  of 
(he  rebellion  in  the  North  was  ever  seriously  intenili'(l  l»y 
him.  II(!  did  inde.ed  admit  aftcrward.s,  iiud  by  inn)lica- 
tion,  that  tin;  Munster  jounuiy  was  an  error  ;  for  he  ex- 
cused it  JUS  undertaken  by  advic<}  of  the  Irish  Council 
against  his  own  ju<lgment.  lint  did  he  o|)[)ose  it  at  the 
time?     I  think  not.      He  was  not  usiially  so  submissive 


1598-99.]         IKISH  CAMPAIGN:    PARLEY  AND  TP.UCE.  263 

to  Councils,  and  if  he  had  seriously  disapproved  of  the 
postponement  of  the  northern  action  and  told  the  Queen 
so,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  advice  of  the  Irish 
Council  would  have  been  overruled  and  he  would  have 
been  instructed  to  proceed.  If  on  the  other  hand  he  as- 
sented to  their  advice  upon  the  grounds  by  them  alleged, 
he  was  merely  postponing  the  main  service  for  a  month 
or  two,  in  order  that  it  might  be  prosecuted  more  effect- 
ually in  June  or  July  ;  and  if  he  found  himself  then, 
from  whatever  caiise,  without  the  means  of  doing  any- 
thing, he  must  at  least  have  felt  that  a  fatal  error  had 
been  committed,  —  that  he  stood  responsible  for  nothing 
less  than  the  utter  failure  of  the  whole  year's  work  ;  and 
must  have  been  anxious  to  explain  how  this  happened. 
The  conclusion  of  such  a  truce,  under  such  circumstances, 
he  could  not  possibly  regard  as  anything  less  than  an  ac- 
knowledmnent  of  defeat.  Nobodv  had  ever  found  any 
difficulty  in  bringing  Tyrone  to  terms  of  truce,  nor  had 
any  truce  ever  been  concluded  with  him  on  terms  so 
much  to  his  advantage.  In  April,  when  sixteen  thousand 
men  were  ready  to  take  the  field,  the  offer  of  sucli  terms, 
though  impolitic,  would  have  passed  for  lenity  on  the 
part  of  the  government ;  for  the  alternative  would  have 
seemed  to  be  war,  with  the  chances  of  success  all  on  that 
side.  But  in- September,  when  it  was  evident  that  no 
offensive  movement  could  be  attempted,  the  acceptance 
of  them  was  an  act  of  moderation  on  tlie  part  of  Tyi'one. 
The  power  of  England  had  been  put  forth  in  a  great 
effort,  had  not  succeeded  even  in  distressing  him,  and  did 
not  now  dare  to  attack  him,  and  yet  he  was  content  to 
make  the  truce.  Is  it  conceivable  that  a  man  like  Essex, 
if  ho  really  left  England  in  April  with  an  intention  to 
put  an  end  to  the  rebellion  and  "  achieve  something 
worthy  of  her  Majesty's  honor,"  would  in  September 
have  condescended  to  such  a  conclusion  without  a  sense 
of  humiliation  and  an  acknowledgment  of  failure  ? 


2<)4  GENERAL  RESULT  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN.  [Book  IL 

It  is  true  that  in  his  real  designs,  whatever  they  may 
have  been,  he  succeeded  no  better.  But  any  disappoint- 
ment on  that  score  (supposing  those  designs  to  have  been 
such  as  he  could  not  avow)  he  would  of  course  keep  to 
himself.  He  expected,  no  doubt,  to  be  in  a  very  differ- 
ent position  from  that  in  which  he  found  himself.  A 
triumphant  progress  through  the  south  of  Ireland,  with 
the  rebels  everywhere  submitting,  the  army  flushed  with 
success  and  passionately  devoted  to  their  favorite  General, 
all  Munster  reclaimed  to  obedience,  victory  sitting  on  Bis 
helm  and  swift  unbespoken  pomps  attending  his  steps, — 
results  which  he  may  easily  have  dreamed  c^f,  —  would 
have  made  him  a  dangerous  man  to  contradict,  and  put 
his  enemies  under  his  feet ;  all  the  more  if  the  head  of 
rebellion  in  the  North  had  still  to  be  broken  ;  for  in  that 
case  he  must  have  been  the  man  to  do  it,  and  must  have 
had  another  army  to  do  it  with.  We  shall  see  hereafter 
what  sort  of  power  in  the  state  he  thought  it  for  the  good 
of  the  kingdom  that  he  should  possess.  We  know  that 
he  was  all  this  time  in  an  angry  humor  of  discontent, 
and  swelling  with  undigested  mortification.  And  to  mc 
it  seems  not  improbable  that  to  place  himself  in  this 
position  was  his  first  object  in  undertaking  the  service, 
to  subdue  the  rebellion  his  second ;  and  that  he  had 
persuaded  himself  to  regard  the  one  as  a  necessary  sti>p 
to  the  other. 

Upon  this  supj)ositiiiii,  his  course  is  at  least  intelligible. 
Upon  tins  supposition  I  can  understand  why  he  objected 
to  the  aj)p()intmcnt  of  J^ord  Montjoy  and  forced  the 
service  upon  himsell" ;  why  in  England  he  insisted  so 
earnestly  u])on  the  ni^cessity  of  making  a  real  end  of  the 
war,  and  in  Ireland  yi<'lded  so  r<!adily  to  all  pr()])ositions 
for  postponing  it ;  why  he;  made  a  point  of  taking  so  large 
a  force  and  being  trusted  with  sucli  uulimiled  ]»ower,  and 
filling  th(i  places  of  ini]»oitanee  with  .such  men  as  Hlouufc 
and  S(nithampton  ;  why  he  hurried  his  army  as  fast  and 


1598-99.]     GENERAL  RESULT  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN.       265 

as  far  as  be  could  away  from  the  proper  scene  of  action 
and  out  of  reach  of  instructions  ;  why  in  his  dispatches 
he  never  explained  his  plan  of  operations,  but  sent  home 
onl}'^  meagre  journals  of  each  day's  proceeding  ;  why  he 
arranged  all  his  movements  so  that  the  government  had 
no  means  of  checking  him  ;  why  after  he  knew  and  even 
avowed  that  his  men  were  unfit  for  the  northern  action, 
he  continued  to  talk  so  confidently  of  proceeding  with  it ; 
why  having  postponed  it  till  it  was  too  late,  he  insisted 
on  making:  a  demonstration  of  it  when  it  was  too  late, 
and  having  at  the  end  of  August  declined  to  give  it  up 
because  nothing  could  be  done,  was  content  to  end  it  on 
the  8th  of  September  without  attempting  to  do  anything  ; 
and  lastly,  why  from  tbe  beginning  to  the  end  of  this 
miserable  business  he  maintained  the  tone  of  a  much 
injured  man,  doing  all  that  mortal  could,  and  never  fail- 
ing in  anything  unless  through  the  fault  of  his  employers 
in  not  trusting,  encouraging,  and  applauding  him.  In 
spite  of  appearances  he  must  still  be  believed  to  be  the 
only  man  who  could  bring  Ireland  to  obedience  ;  for 
through  this  it  was  that  he  looked  to  right  himself  against 
his  enemies.  And  to  make  people  believe  this  as  things 
now  stood,  his  best  chance  was  to  assert  it  confidently. 
Those  who  think  him  incapable  of  a  false  pretense  and 
only  unlucky  and  ill-used,  must  reconcile  these  facts  with 
their  theory  as  they  best  may  ;  a  thing  which  I  have 
never  seen  attempted.  For  my  own  part  I  can  find  no 
point  of  view  from  which  the  true  history  of  his  proceed- 
ings does  not  seem  incredible,  except  upon  the  supposi- 
tion that  he  was  playing  a  double  game  of  some  kind. 
That  he  had  not  played  it  skillfully  is  not  surprising,  for 
his  virtues  as  well  as  his  faults  stood  in  his  way  ;  and 
from  this  time  it  became  still  more  difiicult.  The  pause 
which  followed  the  truce  gave  the  Queen  an  opportunity 
at  last  of  putting  in  her  own  word  with  effect.  Hitherto 
he  has  been  managing  in  his  own  wav  a  business  of   his 


266  THE  QUEEN  DEMANDS  EXPLANATIONS.         [Book  II. 

own  undertaking  ;  he  now  finds  himself  in  a  position  for 
which  he  was  not  prepared,  and  must  manage  as  he  can. 

A  month  before,  when  the  Queen  heard  of  the  second 
postponement  of  the  Ulster  expedition,  she  had  forbidden 
him  (not  knowing  what  in  his  then  temper  he  might 
do  next)  to  leave  Ireland  without  her  express  warrant. 
When  she  heard  in  the  beginning  of  Sei)tember  that, 
though  he  had  received  the  reinforcements  which  he 
required  for  that  service,  he  meant  after  all  to  go  no 
further  than  the  frontiers  and  with  a  force  avowedly  too 
weak  to  do  any  good,  she  repeated  that  proliibition  ;  re- 
cited in  terms  of  strong  and  just  remonstrance  the  his- 
tory of  his  professions  and  performances  ;  and  since  it 
appeared  by  his  own  words  that  nothing  could  be  done 
this  year  against  Tyrone  and  O'Donnel,  commanded  him 
and  the  Council  to  fall  into  present  deliberation  and  send 
over  in  wiiting  a  true  declaration  of  the  state  into  which 
they  had  lirought  the  kingdom;  what  effect  this  journey 
had  produced,  and  in  what  kind  of  war,  where,  and  in 
what  numbers,  tliey  thought  the  remainder  of  the  year 
should  be  employed  ;  and  tlien  to  wait  for  directions. 
But  Essex  was  now  in  a  hurry.  Her  letter  to  this  ef- 
fect had  scarcely  been  written,  when  another  messenger 
arrived  with  news  oi  the  conference  with  Tyrone  and  the 
appointment  of  Commissioners  to  treat  with  him.  This 
intelligence  (accomj)anied  with  an  assurance  that  notli- 
ing  would  be  concluded  till  her  pleasure  were  known,  but 
without  any  ])arlicular.s  either  of  tlie  confcrcnco  or  the 
commission)  r(!ai;h('d  the  Court  on  the  lOth  of  Sc[)tein- 
bcr  ;  and  on  the  17th  tlu;  messenger  was  sent  back  with 
hci-  r<'ply.  Since  lie  IkkI  nn(,  told  her  what  passed  on 
either  side  at  the  conftM-cncc,  or  what  (lu;  Commissioners 
liad  in  cliai-gc,  she  did  not  know  what  conjeclure  to  maki; 
of  liii-  issue:  lull  ujiiilcver  the  coiidilioiis  might  be,  it 
oaths  and  pledges  ti'om  'I'yrone  were  to  be  the  only  s(s- 
curity  for  performance,  wliat  would  they  avail/ 


1598-99.J  TlIK  QUEKN   DEMANDS   EXPLANATIONS.  267 

"  Unless  he  yield  to  have  garrisons  planted  in  his  own  country 
to  master  him,  —  to  deliver  Oneal's  sons,  whereof  the  detaining 
is  most  dishonoi"able,  —  and  to  come  over  to  us  j^crsonally 
here,  —  we  shall  doubt  you  do  but  piece  up  a  hollow  peace  and 
so  the  end  prove  worse  then  the  beginning.  And  therefore,  as 
we  do  well  approve  your  own  voluntary  profession,  wherein  you 
assure  us  that  you  will  conclude  nothing  till  you  have  advertised 
us  and  heard  our  pleasure,  so  do  we  absolutely  command  you  to 
continue  and  perform  that  resolution.  Pass  not  your  word  for 
his  pardon,  nor  make  any  absolute  contract  for  his  conditions, 
till  you  do  particularly  advise  us  by  writing  and  receive  our 
pleasure  hereafter  for  your  further  warrant  and  authority  in 
that  behalf." 

What  was  to  be  done  now  ?  Thougli  Essex  had  taken 
care  to  dispatch  his  messenger  the  day  before  the  Com- 
missioners met,  —  thinking  I  suppose  that  the  case  being 
incomplete  the  decision  would  be  deferred,  —  he  could 
not  contrive  this  time  to  be  involved  in  a  fresh  action  be- 
fore the  answer  arrived.  The  truce  being  concluded  and 
the  army  dispersed,  he  had  now  no  pretext  for  postpon- 
ing explanations.  The  campaign  was  over.  The  ques- 
tion was,  what" had  been  done  ?  A  question  indisputably 
fair  and  reasonable  ;  though  to  put  on  paper  an  answer 
to  it  which  had  a  chance  of  being  considered  satisfactory 
was  no  easy  matter.  For  whatever  might  be  said  in  jus- 
tification of  this  or  that  item  of  the  account,  the  totals 
must  stand  thus  :  Expended,  <£ 300,000  and  ten  or 
twelve  thousand  men  :  received,  a  suspension  of  liostil- 
ities  for  six  weeks,  with  promise  of  a  fortnight's  notice 
before  recommencing  them,  and  a  verbal  communication 
from  Tyrone  of  the  conditions  upon  which  he  was  willing 
to  make  peace.  The  obtaining  of  this  information  was 
in  fact  the  Earl's  great  achievement.  And  if  lie  hud  in- 
deed induced  Tyrone  to  offer  conditions  really  satisfac- 
tory, he  liad  deserved  well  of  his  country  after  all,  and 
for  his  discharge  had   onlv  to  produce  tlnmi.      l>nt   Iktc 


268    ESSEX'S  PROJECT  OF  AN  ARMED  EXPLANATIOX.     ,B..ok  II. 

was  a  new  difficulty.  The  Queen  required  a  report  in 
writing.  Now  Tyrone,  fearing  that  if  the  conditions 
were  committed  to  paper  they  would  be  communicated 
to  Spain,  had  made  him  promise  to  deliver  them  verb- 
all}'.  The  evidence  of  this  otherwise  incredible  fact  is 
still  extant  in  Essex's  own  declaration  under  his  own 
hand.  If  the  statement  had  proceeded  from  anybody 
else,  or  if  the  words  had  been  less  precise,  I  should  have 
suspected  a  mistake  :  I  should  have  suspected  that  the 
promise  was  not  exacted  by  Tyrone  —  for  what  diffei'- 
enee  could  it  make  to  him  whether  Essex  made  a  verbal 
or  a  written  report  of  what  he  liad  said,  or  which  of  the 
two  were  communicated  to  Spain,  so  long  as  he  did  not 
himself  sign  either  ?  —  but  volunteered  by  Essex  himself, 
for  the  very  purpose  of  putting  it  out  of  his  power  to 
make  a  report  in  writing,  and  of  thereby  compelling  the 
Queen  to  send  for  him.  But  his  words  can  bear  only 
one  meaning.  "  The  conditions  demanded  by  Tyrone  I 
was  fain  to  give  my  word  that  T  would  only  verbally 
deliver,  it  being  so  required  of  him  before  he  tvonld  open 
his  heart ;  his  fear  being  lest  they  should  be  sent  into 
Spain,  as  he  saith  the  letter  with  which  he  trusted  Sir 
John  Norreys  was."  If  the  stipulation  really  proceeeded 
from  Tyrone,  it  must  have  been  by  way  of  bravado  ;  and 
certainly  if  he  wanted  a  written  record  of  the  fact  that  he 
had  negotiated  the  truce  on  terms  of  acknowledged  supe- 
riority, he  could  have  nothing  better  than  such  a  state- 
ment as  this.  But  however  it  came  about,  it  served  Essex 
now  as  a  pretext  for  going  over  to  England  —  tlio  (^u(hmi's 
repeated  comniiinds  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
And  siiir(!  it  liappened  that  these  mysterious  conditions 
amounted  to  nothing  less  than  what  we  should  now  call 
"■  Ireland  for  the  Irish,"  and  were  such  as  the  (^ueen 
Could  not  be  asked  to  grant  except  on  the  assumption 
that  TvroiK!  was  uiaster  of  the  situation  and  must  be  al- 
lowed to  make  his  own  terms  —  a  view  wliieh   it  seemed 


1598-99  ]  ESSEX'S  PROJECT  OF  AN  ARMED  EXPLANATION.        269 

she  was  not  yet  prepared  to  take  —  it  was  necessary  to 
go  provided  with  the  means  of  convincing  her.  Reason, 
in  such  a  case,  he  could  not  trust  to.  It  was  his  old 
complaint  that  he  could  never  do  her  service  but  against 
lier  will.  The  Court  and  Council  were  full  of  "  enemies," 
in  whose  hands  he  could  not  safely  trust  himself.  What 
should  he  do?  On  receipt  of  the  Queen's  last  letter 
(which  having  been  dispatched  from  Nonsuch  on  the 
17th  of  September  could  hardly  reach  him  before  the 
21st  or  22d),  he  held  a  consultation  with  his  confiden- 
tial friends  Blount  and  Southampton  ;  told  them  (this  is 
Southampton's  own  statement,  attested  by  Nottingham, 
Cecil,  and  Windebank,  to  whom  it  was  made,  published 
at  the  time  to  all  the  world,  and  never  contradicted  oi 
retracted,  though  Southampton  lived  man}^  years  after 
with  ever}^  motive  for  doing  so  if  he  could)  "  that  he 
found  it  necessary  for  him  to  go  into  England,  and 
thought  it  fit  to  carry  with  him  so  much  of  the  army  as 
he  could  conveniently  transport,  to  go  on  shore  with  him 
to  Wales,  and  there  to  make  good  his  landing  till  he 
could  send  for  more  :  not  doubting  but  his  arm}^  would 
so  increase  in  a  small  time,  that  he  should  be  able  to 
march  to  London  and  make  his  conditions  as  he  desired."^ 
That  he  seriously  meditated  such  a  design  seems  mon- 
strous :  but  I  find  it  impossible  to  doubt  the  fact  ;  and 
the  impossibility  of  either  disputing  it  or  reconciling  it 
with  the  popular  view  of  his  character  is  implied  in  all 
our  modern  popular  narratives  of  this  business  ;  which 
with  one  accord  forget  to  mention  it.^  To  any  one,  how- 
ever, who  seriously  desires  to  find  the  true   meaning  of 

1  Appendix  to  Declaration  of  Treasons,  etc,  publislied  In- authority  in  1601. 
There  is  some  doubt,  however,  about  the  exact  date  of  the  conversation.  In  the 
examination  of  Blount,  signed  by  himself,  which  has  been  primed  from  the 
Hatfield  MSS  ,  it  is  said  to  have  been  "some  days  before  the  Earl's  journey 
into  the  Norih."  But  as  I  suspect  some  mistake,  —  for  it  is  expressly  stated  in 
the  Declaration  that  he  was  not  known  to  have  commnnicated  his  design  to  any- 
body before  his  conference  with  Tyrone,  —  I  leave  my  story  as  it  was. 

-  This  was  written   before  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Hepworth  Dixon's  Per- 


270  IIIS  SUDDEN  RETURN  AGAINST  ORDERS.        [Book  II. 

his  proceedings  and  what  sort  of  subject  he  really  AA'as, 
it  must  appear  a  fact  far  too  significant  to  be  left  out  of 
account.  A  subject  making  his  own  conditions  with  the 
Government  at  the  head  of  an  army  is  a  successful  rebel, 
and  successful  rebellion  without  bloodshed  was  no  doubt 
what  he  wished,  — may  have  been  what  he  hoped.  But 
knowing  as  he  did  that  England  had  been  in  arms  at 
very  sliort  notice  only  a  month  before,  civil  war  is  what 
he  nmst  have  expected  and  been  prepared  for.  Nor  was 
it  that  consideration  which  deterred  him  from  the  proj- 
ect. He  gave  it  up  because  the  two  friends  whom  he 
most  trusted,  having  taken  a  night  to  think  it  over,  con- 
curred in  protesting  against  it. 

They  agreed  however  (at  least  Blount  did)  that  he 
must  not  go  without  foi'ce  enough  for  his  personal  protec- 
tion. It  was  foreseen  that  he  would  probably  be  placed 
under  some  restraint.  And  as  they  could  not  tell  how 
much  was  known  or  suspected  by  the  Government  of 
what  was  known  to  themselves,  a  committal,  unless  it 
were  to  friendly  hands,  might  prove  dangerous.  To 
guard  against  this  danger,  lilount  advised  him  "to  take 
with  liim  a  good  train  and  make  sure  of  tlie  Court,  and 
then  make  his  own  conditions;"  or  (as  he  expressed  it  on 
anotlier  occasion)  "to  take  a  competent  number  of  choice 
men,  wlio  might  have  secured  him  against  any  commit- 
ment, unless  it  were  to  the  houses  of  the  Archbisliop  of 
Canterbury,  the  Lord  Keeper,  or  Sir  W.  Kuolles."  This 
advice  he  followed.  And  accordingly,  on  (he  24th  of  Sep- 
tember, h(^  surprised  the  Iri.sh  Council  by  swearing  in  two 
Lords  Justices;  and  at  10  A.  M.  on  tlu^  'JSth,  surj)risi'd  the 
(^uci-n  at  Nonsuch  by  a])itcaring  in  Iicr  bedchaniber,  be- 
foH'  she  was  dr<'sse(i  for  company,  full  of  dirt  and  mire. 
Tlicrc   had   come  ovci-   with    iiim   "the    most   part  of  his 

.lOTiitl  llivtoiy  iif  I.iiril  lliutin,  jiiiil  of  Mr.  IJnu-o'.s  Secret  Con-esjwntlence  of 
Jtimis  I'/.  <;/'  Sfi  llntiil  irilli  Sir  Ji'iihirl  Ccrll,  wlicro  llic  fuel  lias  due;  [iroiiii- 
oeiice  i;iv)-ii  in   ii  (('hiimIi'm  Soc,  1801). 


1598-99.]         HIS   SUDDEN  RETURN  AGAINST  ORDERS.  271 

household  and  a  great  number  of  captains  and  gentle- 
men,"—  though  only  six  accompanied  him  from  London 
to  Nonsuch. 

It  is  a  remarkable  proof  of  the  charm  which  his  per- 
sonal presence  exercised  over  the  Queen,  that  her  first 
emotion  on  seeing  him  was  pleasure.  So  deeply  as  she 
had  been  displeased  with  all  he  had  been  doing  during 
the  last  half-year,  and  with  such  deep  cause,  —  his  very 
latest  communication  having  brought  the  displeasure  to 
a  climax,  —  one  would  have  thought  she  would  have  been 
in  no  humor  to  pardon  this  new  act  of  daring  disobe- 
dience. But  so  it  was  that  when  he  went  to  his  room 
presently  to  wash  his  face  and  change  his  dress,  he  was 
observed  to  be  "  very  pleasant  —  and  thanked  God  that 
though  he  had  suffered  much  trouble  and  storms  abroad, 
he  found  a  sweet  calm  at  home."  As  soon  as  he  was 
dressed  he  had  another  interview,  which  lasted  an  hour 
and  a  half :  and  still  all  was  well.  "  He  went  to  dinner, 
and  during  all  that  time  discoursed  merely  of  his  travels 
and  journeys  in  Ireland,  of  the  goodness  of  the  country, 
the  civilities  of  the  nobility  that  are  true  subjects,  of  the 
great  entertainment  he  had  in  their  houses,  of  the  good 
order  he  found  there.  He  was  visited  frankly  by  all 
sorts  here  of  lords  and  ladies  and  gentlemen  ;  only  strange- 
ness is  observed  between  him  and  Mr.  Secretary  and 
that  party."  What  face  he  had  put  upon  the  matter  as 
yet  to  make  this  fair  weather  we  do  not  know.  Perhaps 
tlie  Queen  let  him  tell  his  own  story,  and  postponed  ques- 
tions and  remarks  to  the  afternoon  ;  and  he,  who  had  ap- 
prehended a  different  kind  of  reception,  mistook  silence 
for  satisfaction.  After  dinner  she  did  not  seem  so  well 
satisfied  :  many  things  had  to  be  explained :  the  Lords  of 
the  Council  must  talk  to  him.  He  was  with  them  for  an 
hour  that  afternoon :  the  result  not  known  :  only  that 
night  between  ten  and  eleven  he  was  commanded  to  keep 
his  chamber. 


272  HIS   SUDDEN   RETURN  AGAINST  ORDERS.        [Book  II. 

Bacon  not  being  at  Court  does  not  appear  to  luive 
beard  of  bis  arrival  till  tbe  next  day ;  for  tbe  first  news 
be  bad  of  it  was  accompanied  witb  tbe  intelligence  that 
be  bad  been  committed  to  bis  cbamber  for  leaving  Ireland 
witbout  tbe  Queen's  license.  And  it  must  bave  been  on 
bearing  this  tbat  be  wrote  blm  tbe  following  letter  :  whi(».]i 
comes  from  Rawley's  supplementary  collection,  and  bas 
no  date.  Bacon,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  not  at  tbis 
time  aware  of  wbat  Essex  bad  been  doing,  beyond  wbat 
everybody  knew  of  tbe  general  course  and  result  of  tbe 
campaign.  He  knew  tbat  be  bad  done  no  good,  but  not 
bow  far  be  bad  gone  in  evil  beyond  bis  darkest  appre- 
hensions. He  took  bis  present  arrival  for  one  of  bis  rasb 
and  dangerous  acts,  but  of  tbe  real  nature  of  it,  wbicb 
was  not  known  till  long  after,  bo  bad  no  notion. 

TO   MY   LORD   OF   ESSEX. 

My  Lord,  —  Conceiving  tbat  your  Lordship  came  now 
up  in  tbe  person  of  a  good  servant  to  see  your  sovereign 
mistress,  wbicb  kind  of  compliments  are  many  times 
instar  magnorum  meritorum^  and  therefore  tbat  it  would 
be  bard  for  me  to  find  you,  I  bave  committed  to  tbis  poor 
paper  the  humble  salutations  of  liim  that  is  more  yours 
th;in  any  man's  and  more  yours  than  any  man.  To  these 
salutations  I  ad<l  a  due  and  joyful  gratuhition  confessing 
that  your  Jjord.ship,  in  your  last  conference  with  ine  b('- 
fore  your  jfjurney,  spake?  not  in  vain,  (lud  making  it  good, 
That  you  trusted  we  should  say  Quis  putdnsct  '  Which 
as  it  is  found  true  in  a  happy  sense,  so  I  wish  you  do  not 
find  another  Quis  putasnet  in  the  manner  of  taking  this 
80  great  a  service.  But  I  hope  it  is,  as  he  said,  Nabt'cula 
est,  cito  transihit :  and  that  your  Lordsliip's  wisdom  ami 
obsequious  circumspection  nnd  pMtii'ncc  will  I  urn  nil  to 
the  best.  So  r<'f('ri"ing  all  to  some  tinu;  that  I  ni:iy  ;ttt<'ii(l 
you,  I  cnnimit  yf)U  to  (Jod's  best  preservation. 


1598-:)9.]      BACON'S   ADVICE:    ESSEX'S   REAL   I'USITIOX.  273 

This  letter  was  probably  written  at  Nonsndi,  wliitlier 
(it  being  of  the  first  importance  to  lose  no  time  in  put- 
ting the  Earl  in  the  right  way  at  so  critical  a  juncture) 
Bacon  immediately  repaired.  He  succeeded  in  getting  a 
quarter  of  an  hour's  private  conversation  with  him,  of 
the  effect  of  which  we  have  his  own  report.  "  He  asked 
mine  opinion  of  the  course  that  was  taken  with  him.  I 
told  him,  My  Lord,  nubecula  est,  cito  transihit.  It  is  but 
a  mist.  But  shall  I  tell  your  Lordship  it  is  as  mists  are : 
if  it  go  upwards  it  may  perhaps  cause  a  shower :  if  down- 
wards, it  will  clear  up.  And  therefore,  good  my  Lord, 
carry  it  so  as  you  take  away  by  all  means  all  umbrages 
and  distastes  from  the  Queen :  and  especially,  if  I  were 
worthy  to  advise  you,  as  I  have  been  by  yourself  thought, 
and  now  your  question  imports  the  continuance  of  that 
opinion,  observe  three  points  :  First,  make  not  this  cessa- 
tion or  peace  which  is  concluded  with  Tyrone  as  a  service 
wherein  you  glory,  but  as  a  shuffling  up  of  a  prosecution 
which  was  not  very  fortunate.  Next,  represent  not  to 
the  Queen  any  necessity  of  estate  whereby  as  by  a  coer- 
cion or  wrench  she  should  think  herself  enforced  to  send 
you  back  into  Ireland ;  but  leave  it  to  her.  Thirdly, 
seek  access,  importune,  opportuyie,  seriously,  sportingly, 
every  way.  —  I  remember  my  Lord  was  willing  to  hear 
me,  but  spake  very  few  words  and  shaked  his  head  some- 
times, as  if  he  thought  I  was  in  the  wrong  —  but  sure  I 
am  he  did  just  contrarj^  in  every  one  of  these  three 
points."  1 

The  truth  was  that  the  constitution  of  Essex's  case 
was  not  sound  enough  to  bear  this  kind  of  treatment. 
The  secrets  which  he  had  left  behind  liim  in  Ireland 
were  not  all  in  such  safe  custody  as  that  which  he  hail 
left  with  Blount  and  Southampton.  He  had  come  over, 
hoping  by  his  personal  influence  to  obtain  a  sanction  for 
what  he  had  done  (which  he  could  not  hope  to  do  by 
1  Apology. 

VOL.  I.  18 


274  •  ESSEX'S   REAL   POSITION.  [I'-noK  II. 

any  written  communication),  and  thereupon  to  be  sent 
speedily  back  again,  and  so  to  put  the  breadth  of  St. 
George's  Channel  between  him  and  the  Queen's  guard ; 
within  reach  of  which  he  could  not  now  have  felt  easy. 
That  this  was  his  aim,  and  what  the  pretexts  were  upon 
which  he  hoped  to  succeed  in  it,  will  appear  from  his 
own  statement.  But  this  being  a  new  aspect  of  the 
game,  I  will  let  it  begin  a  new  chapter. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
A.  D.  1599-1600.    ^TAT.  39-40. 

The  gentleness  with  which  the  Queen  welcomed  Essex 
on  his  sudden  appearance  was  probably  an  impulse  of 
nature.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  see  his  face,  and  the  pleas- 
ure expressed  itself  in  her  behavior.  But  whether  in- 
spii-ed  by  nature  or  policy,  it  was  a  lucky  inspiration. 
She  did  not  know  of  the  train  of  "  choice  men  "  that  had 
come  over  with  him,  nor  of  the  spirit  that  animated 
them :  concerning  which  an  anecdote  told  by  Camden  — 
and  told  as  in  favor  of  Essex  without  any  hint  of  doubt 
as  to  its  correctness  —  gives  some  light.  On  the  road 
from  Lambeth  to  Nonsuch,  the  Earl  was  outridden  by 
Lord  Grey  of  Wilton,  —  an  "enemy," — that  is,  one  of 
the  other  party  ;  who  being  overtaken  by  one  of  the 
Earl's  company  and  asked  (as  on  his  behalf,  though  not 
by  his  desire)  to  let  him  ride  before,  replied  that  he  had 
business  at  Court,  and  pushed  on.  Upon  which  (adds 
Camden)  "  Sir  Christopher  St.  Lawrence  offered  his 
services  to  kill  both  him  in  the  way  and  the  Secretary  in 
the  Court.  But  the  Earl,  hating  from  his  soul  all  im- 
piety, would  not  assent  unto  it." 

Now  though  Essex  was  not  prepared  to  begin  with  two 
murders  in  cold  blood  before  a  finger  had  been  laid  or 
threatened  to  be  laid  upon  himself,  it  does  not  follow 
that  he  was  not  prepared  to  use  such  services  in  self- 
defense.  And  the  very  offer  (if  the  story  be  true) 
implies  a  spirit  in  his  followers  which  was  not  likely, 
upon  the  approach  or  appearance  of  danger,  to  be  nice 


276  ESSEX'S  RECEPTION   AND   EXPLANATIONS.         [IJ.»,iv  II. 

as  to  modes  of  rescue.  A  rough  reception  at  Court 
reported  iu  London  would  have  brought  back  many 
swords  as  ready  for  business  as  St.  Lawrence's,  antl  nuide 
a  hot  evening  at  Nonsuch. 

The  course  which  the  Queen  took  avoided  this  danger. 
Friday  brought  news  that  he  had  been  received  graciously 
and  all  was  well.  Saturday  that  he  was  commanded  to 
keep  his  own  chamber  till  the  Lords  of  the  Council  had 
spoken  with  him.  Sunday  that  he  had  been  heard,  and 
that  his  answers  were  under  consideration.  Monday 
that  he  was  committed  to  custody  ;  but  to  the  custody 
of  the  Lord  Keeper,  his  principal  friend  in  the  Council ; 
and  removed  to  York  House,  where  he  remained,  secluded 
from  company  by  his  own  desire.  And  it  being  under- 
stood all  this  while  that  the  Council  were  satisfied  with 
his  expUmations,  and  that  the  restraint  was  a  matter  of 
form  used  for  the  sake  of  example,  and  likely  to  be  soon 
over,  there  was  nothing  even  for  the  most  reckless  of  his 
friends  to  ground  any  violent  proceeding  upon. 

What  lie  niiglit  have  adventured  had  his  actions  been 
disap])roved  and  disavowed,  and  yet  himself  left  free, 
must  be  left  to  conjecture.  The  line  he  took,  as  matters 
stood,  was  to  profess  extreme  submission  and  lunniHty, 
witli  a  desire  to  leave  wars  and  council-boards,  and  betake 
liimself  to  a  private  life.  I  say  to  jjrofeas  ;  for  it  was 
certainly  not  a  state  of  mind  in  which  he  was  going  to 
rest,  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  it  was  sincere  even 
for  the  time.  Perliaps  he  did  not  himself  know.  For 
he  was  now  once  more  in  a  position  whicli  he  had  not 
reckoned  upon.  C)f  his  conferences  with  the  Council 
Cwhich  were  very  private)  wo  have  no  detailed  account; 
and  th(!  rumors  wliich  got  abroad  cannot  be  dc^pended  on, 
being  only  what  the  ( 'ouit  wished  to  be  believed  at  the 
tim(\  liut  the  ])ap<T  which  hi;  drew  uji  immediately 
after  his  lii'st  (examination,  and  of  which  I  have  already 
quoted  part,  proves  that  he  had   not  then  any  intention 


15!»9-1G00.]     ESSEX'S  RECEPTION  AND  EXPLANATIONS.  277 

of  retiring,  but  meant  to  represent  himself  as  the  onh- 
person  who  could  manage  the  Irish  difficulty,  and  upon 
that  ground  to  be  sent  back  immediately.  After  ex- 
plaining what  provisions  he  had  made  for  the  govern- 
ment of  affairs  there,  he  adds,  "  But  I  promised  to  send 
over  daily  advices  and  directions  as  soon  as  I  had  spoken 
with  her  Majesty  and  my  Lords,  and  to  give  directions 
also  and  comfort  to  such  of  the  Irishry  as  were  principal 
instruments  for  her  Majesty  in  that  kingdom,  and  tc 
return  ivith  all  expedition.  If  only  by  my  coming  away 
and  Tyrone's  perfidiousness  any  disaster  had  happened, 
I  would  have  recovered  it  or  have  lost  my  life  :  for  I  have 
a  j^firty  there  for  her  Majesty  besides  her  army.  But 
now,  when  they  shall  hear  of  my  present  state,  and  shall 
see  no  new  hopeful  course  taken,  I  fear  that  giddy 
people  will  run  to  all  mischief."  In  the  same  spirit,  and 
no  doubt  with  the  same  view,  he  represents  himself  in 
another  place  as  the  only  man  who  can  do  any  good  with 
Tyrone.  "With  those  that  have  heretofore  dealt  with 
him  he  [Tyrone]  protested  he  would  not  deal  in  this  free 
manner,  nor  by  his  will  in  any  sort  whatsoever ;  since  he 
had  no  confidence  that  they  could  procure  him  that  whifh 
only  would  satisfy  him,  or  performance  of  all  that  was 
agreed  on."  This  is  not  the  language  of  a  man  who 
means  either  to  admit  a  failure  or  to  resign  to  others  tlie 
further  prosecution  of  the  business.  And  it  agrees  well 
enough  with  Sir  R.  Cecil's  account  of  his  avowed  object 
in  coming  over  (viz.  "to  acquaint  her  Majesty  not  with 
the  goodness  of  Tyrone's  offers  in  themselves,  but  witli 
the  necessity  of  her  affairs,  to  which  the  offers  were  suit- 
able ")  though  it  leaves  one  difficulty  still  in  the  way. 

For  what  after  all  were  these  offers,  —  the  best  that  lie 
could  obtain,  and  better  than  could  be  hoped  for  by  any 
one  else  ?  A  memorandum  printed  in  the  Winwood 
Papers  (an  inclosure,  I  suppose,  in  Cecil's  letter  last 
quoted),  gives  the  particulars. 


278  TYRONE'S  PROPOSITIONS,   1599.  [Book  II. 

Tyrone's  propositions,  1599. 

1.  That  the  Catholic  religion  be  openly  preached. 

2.  That  the  churches  be  governed  by  the  Pope. 

3.  That  cathedral  churches  be  restored. 

4.  That  Irish  priests  prisoners  be  released. 

5.  That  they  may  pass  and  repass  the  seas. 

G.  That  no  Englishmen  be  churchmen  in  Ireland. 

7.  That  a  univei'sity  be  erected  upon  the  Crown  lands. 

8.  That  the  governor  be  at  least  an  earl  and  called  Viceroy. 

9.  That  the  Lord  Chancellor,  Treasurer,  Counsel  of  State, 
Justices  of  Law,  Queen's  Attorney,  Queen's  Serjeant,  etc.,  be 
Irishmen. 

10.  That  all  principal  Governors  of  Ireland,  as  Connaught, 
Munster,  etc.,  be  Irish  noblemen. 

11.  That  the  Master  of  the  Ordnance  be  an  Irishman,  and 
half  the  soldiers. 

1 2.  That  no  Irishman  shall  lose  his  lands  for  the  fault  of  his 
ancestors. 

13.  That  no  Irishman  shall  be  in  ward,  but  that  the  living 
during  the  minority  shall  be  to  the  younger  brothers  or  sisters. 

14.  That  all  statutes  prejudicing  the  preferment  of  Irishmen 
in  England  or  Ireland  shall  be  repealed. 

1.^.  That  neither  the  Queen  nor  her  successors  shall  enforce 
any  Irishman  to  serve  her. 

IG.  That  Oneale,  Odonnel,  Desmond,  and  their  partakers, 
shall  have  sucii  lands  as  their  ancestors  enjoyed  two  hundred 
years  ago. 

17.  Tliat  all  Irishmen  siiall  freely  traflic  as  Englishmen  in 
England. 

18.  Tliat  all  Irishmen  shall  travel  freely. 

19.  Tliat  tiiey  may  use  all  manner  of  merchandises  whereso- 
ever. 

20.  That  they  may  use  all  manner  of  trades. 

21.  Tliat  tlicy  may  buy  all  manner  of  shi[)s  and  furnish  them 
with  artillery.^ 

1  Tliis  jiapcT  has  been  pronounced  l)y  Dr.  AI)bott  "demonstrably  spurious." 
f  ha\(!  not  liowe\or  seen  any  attpmpt  at  demonstration  except  his  own;  and 
this  sccnis  to  me  demonstrably  inconclusive.     Externally  it  has  as  good  a  title 


1599-lGOO.]        CONDITIONS   DEMANDED    BY    TYKONE.  2~[) 

Now  can  any  one  believe  that  Essex  came  over  from 
Ireland  intending  to  lay  these  propositions  fairly  before 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  hoping  to  persuade  her  that  the 
man  who  had  consented  to  entertain  them  was  the  man 
to  do  her  work  with  rebels?  Such  terms  proposed  in  an 
orderly  way  in  Parliament  or  b}^  petition  in  behalf  of  a 
loyal  countrjr,  might  (in  these  days  at  least)  have  much 
said  for  them  ;  though  some  of  the  articles  —  the  16th 
for  instance  —  could  hardly  in  any  circumstances  be 
thought  admissible.  But  coming  from  a  rebel  at  the 
lioad  of  an  undamaged  army,  treating  with  the  remnant 
of  the  army  which  had  been  sent  out  to  reduce  him  to 
obedience,  what  else  could  they  appear  than  terms  im- 
]H)sed  by  a  conqueror?  That  a  man  of  such  a  spirit  as 
Essex  should  have  entertained  them  at  all,  is  strange  and 
suspicious.  That  if  he  was  acting  simply  and  sincerely 
in  the  Queen's  interest,  he  would  ever  have  regarded 
them  as  conditions  fit  to  be  sanctioned  except  in  the  last 
resort,  or  that  even  then  he  could  have  hoped  to  make 
tliem  so  easy  of  digestion  to  her  that  she  must  needs  send 
him  back  to  carry  them  out,  — is  to  me  incredible.  The 
truth  probably  is  that  he  did  not  intend  to  lay  them 
f;iirl\'  before  her.  "  The  conditions  demanded  by  Ty- 
rone," he  says  in  his  written  statement,  "I  was  fain  to 
give  my  word  that  I  would  only  verbally  deliver."  But 
lie  does  not  say  that  he  has  delivered  them  verbally :  only 
that  he  has  "  already  told  her  Majesty  and  the  Loi'ds 
u'Jure  the  knot  is,  which  being  loosed  he  hath  protested 
that  all  the  rest  shall  follow."  As  yet  therefore  I  imag- 
ine that  he  had  refrained,  under  plea  of  that  promise  of 
secrecj',  from  disclosing  the  particulars.  And  so  long  as 
he  was  allowed  to  keep  them  out  of  sight  and  only  state 

as  any  of  the  other  papers  in  that  collection  to  be  accepted  as  genuine.  It  must 
be  supposed  that  Cecil  had  heard  Essex's  verbal  statement  to  the  Council  of  Ty- 
rone's demands,  — and  if  this  was  the  note  he  made  of  them  for  his  own  use, 
it  would  most  likely  be  preserved  where  it  was  found  —  among  the  HatlieUI 
papers. 


280  CONDITIONS  DEMANDED    BY  TYRONE.  [Book  II. 

in  liis  own  way  what  be  chose  to  represent  as  the  main 
difficulty,  be  might  perhaps  hope  to  make  out  a  plausible 
ease  for  beincr  sent  back  to  conclude  the  nefjotiations 
which  be  had  begun.  It  was  but  a  temporary  shift,  to  be 
sure :  for  the  Queen  could  never  have  let  him  go  without 
hearing  the  particulars.  But  men  in  his  position  are  fain 
to  shift  as  they  can.  And  when  at  last  he  did  state  Ty- 
rone's propositions  in  detail  —  possibly  upon  a  promise 
that  they  should  not  be  divulged  (for  it  is  a  i-emarkable 
fact  that  no  detailed  account  of  them  is  to  be  found  in 
any  of  the  many  public  declarations  made  afterwards  by 
the  Government  concerning  these  matters)  —  he  mani- 
festly felt  that  he  had  no  case  left.  The  time  for  carrying 
his  end  by  violence  according  to  Blount's  advice, —  the 
time  for  makinf?  sure  of  the  Court  and  so  makins;  his  own 
conditions,  —  had  been  let  slip.  He  could  now  no  longer 
hope  to  carry  it  by  persuasion.  His  only  resource  there- 
fore, while  other  projects  were  ripening  (for  that  he  had 
other  projects  on  foot  I  shall  show  presently),  was  to  as- 
sume the  tone  which  was  most  likely  to  prevail  with  the 
Queen  to  set  him  free.  The  state  of  his  health  also  had 
its  influence,  and  may  possibly  through  the  depression  of 
liis  spirits  have  made  his  purposes  more  than  usually 
changeable.  For  lie  seems  to  have  had  a  fit  of  real  illness 
at  this  time,  —  long,  serious,  and  depressing:  an  illness 
which  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  his  Irish  secrets  would 
naturally  aggravate.  At  any  rate  there  he  remained, 
close  prisoner,  though  in  friendly  hands,  seeing  (or  at 
least  professing  to  set;)  nobody  exce[)t  by  special  war- 
rant, and  expi'<'ssing  himself  as  a  man  weary  of  the 
woild. 

But  though  the  danger  of  a  violent  reseui*  was  avoided 
by  the  course  taken,  a  dangei-  of  another  kind  was  in- 
ciirr('d.  Thit  pcop/f  wei(!  still  in  the  dark  as  to  the  whole 
matter.  Some  doubtful  rumcu's  had  gone  abroad  as  to 
the    nature    of    the    olTenses    with    which    the    Karl    wa8 


15a9-lG00.]     STRANGE  srEEfllES  UTTERED  BY  TYRONE.  281 

charged  :  but  upon  what  grounds  of  evidence  they  rested, 
and  what  he  had  to  say  m  his  own  excuse,  they  were  left 
to  guess.  They  saw  their  favorite  under  displeasure  and 
in  restraint ;  and  anything  being  more  credible  to  them 
than  that  he  could  have  given  just  cause  for  it,  symptoms 
of  popular  dissatisfaction  began  to  show  themselves  :  the 
more  dangerous  because,  as  the  Council  were  reported  to 
be  using  their  influence  in  his  favor,  the  unpopularity  of 
the  proceedings  fell  upon  the  Queen  herself.  And  it  was 
very  true  that  if  any  one  was  to  blame  in  the  matter,  it 
was  slie.  She  was  acting  for  herself,  under  no  influence 
or  information  except  that  of  her  own  judgment  and 
observation.  Nor  was  there  any  one  who  had  so  good 
means  of  judging,  or  so  good  a  right  to  be  dissatisfied 
witli  the  Earl's  story.  He  must  have  been  a  much  m')i-e 
skillful  dissembler  and  a  much  warier  politician  than  he 
was,  if  he  could  play  his  new  part  without  falling  into 
inconsistencies,  suggestive  of  the  gravest  suspicions  to 
one  who  had  for  so  many  years  been  so  familiar  with 
him  in  all  his  moods.  Formerly  his  most  contumacious 
proceedings  had  been  consistent  with  his  professions  of 
love  and  loyalty,  because  the  greatness  they  aimed  at 
was  to  come  by  her  favor  and  be  employed  in  her  ser- 
yice.  But  now  that  he  was  endeavoring  to  carry  his 
ends  in  spite  of  her,  and  by  working  upon  her  fears,  liis 
words  and  actions  produced  discords  to  which  she  could 
not  be  deaf.  It  must  have  been  clear  to  her  that  she  did 
not  yet  know  all.  Nor  did  the  news  which  presently  ar- 
rived from  Ireland  make  the  case  less  suspicious.  Sir 
William  Warren  had  been  sent  by  Essex  to  confer  with 
Tyrone.  They  had  met  at  Blackwater  on  the  29th  of 
September ;  the  day  after  Essex  arrived  at  Nonsuch. 
And  on  the  4th  of  October  his  report  of  the  interview 
was  forwarded  from  the  Council  at  Dublin  to  the  Coun- 
cil in  London. 

"  By  way  of  conference  with  the  saivl  Tyroue,  aud  the  report 


282        STRANGE  SPEECHES  UTTERED  BY  TYRONE.         [Book  II. 

of  Others,  the  said  Sir  William  did  conceive  a  disposition  in 
Tyrone  to  draw  up  all  the  force  that  he  could  make  to  the  bor- 
ders as  near  Dundalk  as  he  could,  and  all  his  creats  ^  to  bring 
thither  with  him  :  which  maketh  the  said  Sir  William  much  to 
doubt  of  any  good  or  conformity  to  be  looked  for  at  his  hands." 

So  far,  if  there  was  nothing  to  satisfy,  neither  was 
there  anything  to  surprise.  It  was  no  more  than  any- 
body who  knew  the  history  of  previous  treaties  with 
Tyrone  must  have  looked  for.  But  what  was  the  mean- 
ing of  the  next  paragraph  ? 

'By  further  discourse,  the  said  Tyrone  told  to  the  said  Sir 
William  and  declared  it  with  an  oatli,  tliat  within  two  months 
he  should  see  the  greatest  alteration  and  the  strangest  that  he 
the  said  Sir  William  could  imagine,  or  ever  saw  in  his  life  ;  but 
what  his  meaning  was  thereby,  neither  did  he  declare  the  same 
to  the  said  Sir  William,  nor  could  he  understand  it ;  more  than 
that  Tyrone  did  say  he  hoped  before  it  were  long  that  he  the 
said  Tyrone  would  have  a  good  share  in  England.  These 
speeches  of  the  alteration  Tyrone  reiterated  two  or  three  several 
times.  " 

Some  light  was  thrown  upon  the  meaning  of  this  by 
information  obtained  at  a  later  period  ;  but  for  the  pres- 
ent it  remained  a  mystery,  and  no  doubt  suggested  the 
necessity  of  ])roceeding  warily.  But  if  it  was  hazardous 
to  set  tilt'  Earl  free,  it  was  hazardous  also,  by  keeping 
him  in  restraint  without  apparent  cause,  to  provoke  pop- 
ular discontent  ;  of  which  symptoms  began  already  to  ap- 
pear both  in  the  press  and  the  pulpit.  To  quiet  these, 
the  Queen  resolved  after  some  hesitation  and  vacillation 
that  on  oiw.  of  the  days  when  it  was  usual  to  issue  public 
admonitions  in  the  Star  Chamber,  an  ofTicial  declaration 
should  be  made  of  the  principal  faults  laiil  to  his  charge. 
But  it  is   not  easy  for  a  Queen,  wlio  cannot  mix  freely 

1  Mr.  Gardiner  informs  mc  that  Crear/hls,  or  Crinr/lifs,  wero  the  wild  hoitie- 
lesB  fellows  who  wandered  about  llie  countni-  witli  tlii'ir  c-nllle,  and  with  whom 
UI.Htcr  Bwamied  at  that  time.  Sir  John  Davies  speaks  of  "  CrcaKhts  or  herds 
of  cattle."     Tracli,  p.  131. 


1599-1600.]        STRANGE   SPEECHES  UTTERED   BY   TYRONE.        283 

with  the  people,  to  understand  the  oonditious  of  popular 
opinion  ;  and  she  seems  to  have  forgotten  that  they  would 
want  to  hear  the  Earl's  story  as  well  as  hers,  and  that 
to  publish  the  charges  without  the  answers  would  only 
increase  discontent  and  excite  suspicion  of  unfair  dealing. 
Her  real  motive  for  choosing  this  course  was  probably 
tenderness  towards  the  Earl  himself,  whom  she  did  not 
wish  to  bring  before  the  public  as  a  culprit.  But  the 
effect  would  be  not  the  less  unsatisfactory  ;  and  when  she 
told  Bacon  what  she  meant  to  do,  he  warned  her  what 
the  consequence  would  be  :  "  told  her  plainly,  that  the 
people  would  say  that  my  Lord  was  wounded  upon  his 
back,  and  that  justice  had  her  balance  taken  from  her, 
which  ever  consisted  of  an  accusation  and  defense ; 
with  many  other  quick  and  significant  terms  to  that  pur- 
pose." 1  Not  that  he  was  prepared  to  recommend  the 
other  course  of  a  formal  judicial  proceeding ;  for  ho 
thought  the  sympathy  of  the  people  would  be  with  the 
Earl,  and  the  result  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Govern- 
ment.^ His  advice  therefore  was  that  she  should  make 
matters  up  with  him  privately,  and  "  restore  him  to  his 
former  attendance,  with  some  addition  of  honor  to  take 
away  discontent.  "  She  had  to  admit  afterwards  that 
his  objections  to  the  Star  Chamber  proceeding  had  been 
just ;  but  the  freedom  of  his  expostulation  offended  her 
at  the  time,  so  that  she  would  hear  no  more  from  him  on 
the  subject  for  some  months  ;  and  proceeded  in  the  mean- 
time to  carry  out  her  own  plan.       A    declaration    was 

1  Apology. 

2  "I  besought  her  Maje.'^ty  to  bo  advised  again  and  again  how  she  broiiglit 
the  cause  into  any  public  question.  Nay,  I  went  further;  for  I  told  her  that  my 
Lord  was  an  eloquent  and  well-spoken  man  ;  and  besides  his  eloquence  of  nature 
or  art,  he  had  an  eloquence  of  accident  which  passed  them  both,  which  was  the 
pity  and  benevolence  of  his  hearers;  and  therefore  that  when  he  should  come  to 
his  answer  for  himself,  1  doubted  his  words  should  have  so  unequal  a  passage 
above  theirs  that  should  charge  him  as  should  not  be  for  her  Majesty's  honor. 

.  .  I  remember  I  said  that  my  Lord  inforo  famm  was  too  hard  for  her;  and 
therefore  wished  her  as  I  had  done  before  to  wrap  it  up  privately."  —  Apiligy. 


284        MISPLACED   INDIGNATION   AGAINST   BACON.        [Book  II. 

made  in  the  Star  Chamber  on  the  29th  of  November,  by 
the  mouths  of  all  the  principal  councillors.  It  consisted 
of  a  statement  of  the  leading  facts,  —  what  the  Earl  had 
been  sent  out  to  do,  what  means  had  been  provided,  and 
what  lie  had  done.  And  the  story  they  told  agrees,  as 
far  as  it  goes,  with  that  which  I  have  myself  told  upon 
independent  evidence  ;  differing  only  in  this  —  that  it  con- 
tains no  allusion  to  tlie  worst  features  of  the  case  ;  some 
of  which  were  not  yet  even  suspected,  and  others  were 
still  doubtful.  It  was  in  fact  a  fair  and  temperate  state- 
ment of  the  grounds  which  the  Queen  had  for  being  dis- 
satisfied with  him ;  and  not  being  in  tlie  nature  of  a 
charge  to  be  followed  by  a  sentence,  he  was  not  called  to 
answer. 

The  lawyers  having  no  part  in  the  proceeding.  Bacon 
was  not  wanted  in  his  phice  ;  and  popular  feeling  had  in 
the  meantime  taken  a  turn  against  him,  which,  though 
due  to  a  mere  misapprehension  of  the  facts,  made  him 
prefer  to  stay  away.  I  have  said  that  the  Council  did 
not  share  the  unpopularity  of  the  proceedings  against 
Essex,  because  it  was  given  out  that  they  were  using  their 
influence  in  his  favor  ;  whereby  it  would  naturally  have 
fallen  upon  the  Queen  in  person.  But  she  was  herself 
to(^  much  of  a  popular  favorite  to  be  supposed  ca[)able  of 
doing  anything  unjust  or  ungracious,  unU'ss  misled  by 
sinister  influence  somewliere.  Somebody  there  must  be 
upon  whom  indignation  might  discharge  itself  freely:  and 
suspicion  in  such  cases  always  falls  on  those  who  cannot 
speak  for  themselves.  Now  it  happened  that  Bacon,  to 
whom  his  old  privilege  of  access  had  now  for  a  good 
while  been  fully  restored,  was  at  this  time  much  enii)l()yed 
about  matters  of  law  and  revenue,  concerning  which  he 
often  had  occasion  to  attend  the  Queen  and  was  often 
admitted  to  spec-ch  with  her.  And  though  he  li:ul  really 
been  using  all  his  inlluence  to  dissuade  her  from  bringing 
the  Earl's  ca.sc  in  question  publicly,  and  induce  her  to 


1599-1600.]  ESSEX   STILL  AT   YORK   HOUSE.  285 

receive  him  again  at  Court  with  such  conditions  as  shouhl 
make  him  content  to  remain  at  home,  that  fact  was  not 
known ;  and  as  he  could  not  talk  about  what  passed  be- 
tween the  Queen  and  himself,  rumor  might  circulate 
what  stories  she  pleased  :  nor  did  she  spare  her  powers 
of  invention.  It  is  not  necessary  to  ask  how  the  sus- 
picion arose.  Such  suspicions  come  of  themselves.  There 
was  blame  due  to  somebody.  It  could  not  be  Essex.  It 
could  not  be  the  Queen.  It  was  not  the  Council.  It 
might  be  Bacon.  He  stood  next ;  and  against  him  the 
popular  wrath  gathered  with  a  fury  proportioned  to  its 
ignorance.  There  were  those  who  undertook  to  say  what 
opinions  he  had  given  to  the  Queen  upon  the  Earl's  case : 
and  indignation  ran  so  high  that  his  friends  apprehended 
some  violent  attack  upon  him. 

From  this  time  till  the  20th  of  March,  Essex  remained 
at  York  House  under  the  same  conditions.  But  though 
he  was  supposed  to  see  nobody,  not  even  his  wife,  without 
the  Queen's  special  leave,  he  was  really  in  communica- 
tion all  this  time  with  Southampton,  Sir  Christopher 
Blount,  Sir  Charles  Davers,  and  others,  upon  certain  proj- 
ects which  it  will  be  necessary  to  bring  out  in  more  prom- 
inence than  has  been  usually  given  to  them.  For  though 
the  Government  knew  nothing  of  them  at  the  time, 
and  when  they  did  come  to  light  covered  them  up 
with  a  discreet  silence  (in  consequence  of  which  they 
have  almost  dropped  out  of  the  stor^^  as  it  is  commonly 
told,  though  the  evidence  has  been  long  accessible  to 
everybody  in  a  well-known  book),  j^et  they  certainly 
formed  a  very  important  part  of  the  case  which  we  shall 
presently  have  to  consider. 

That  the  necessity  of  his  service  in  Ireland  would 
compel  the  Queen  to  receive  Essex  into  favor  again,  was 
a  hope  which,  though  it  continued  to  prevail  among  the 
people  till  the  middle  of  November,  if  not  later,  he  could 
hardly  entertain  himself  after  the  disclosure  of  Tyrone's 


28G  ESSEX'S  NEGOTIATION  WITH  SCOTLAND.       [I?o..k  U. 

propositions.  He  began  at  once  therefore  to  cast  about 
for  other  means  of  rescue ;  and  if  those  to  which  he  first 
inclined  seem  so  inconsistent  with  his  professions  of  ex- 
tinct ambition  and  desire  of  private  hfe  as  to  suggest  a 
doubt  whether  they  were  sincere  even  for  the  moment, 
we  must  remember  that  his  personal  safety  was  now 
ever}^  hour  in  jeopardy  ;  and  tliat  to  place  himself  out 
of  danger  of  the  law  may  really  have  been  his  object; 
although  the  means  by  which  it  was  to  be  compassed  in- 
volved much  more,  —  involved  in  fact  the  assumption  of 
a  position  and  a  power  above  the  legitimate  pretensions 
of  a  subject.  The  intrigues  in  which  for  this  purpose 
he  was  engaged  were  kept  secret  at  the  time,  for  reasons 
of  state  which  are  sufficiently  intelligible.  For  reasons 
equally  intelligible,  they  were  but  dimly  and  partially 
indicated  during  the  next  reign.  Nor  was  it  till  long 
after,  when  the  whole  question  had  passed  from  the  de- 
partment of  politics  to  that  of  history,  that  they  were 
fully  revealed.  The  evidence  being  nevertheless  good, 
liistory  must  not  refuse  to  admit  it,  and  to  correct  her 
conclusions  accordingly. 

In  the  Advocates'  Library  at  Edinburgh  there  is  still 
to  be  seen  a  manuscript  in  an  old  handwriting,  purporting 
to  be  a  declaration  made  by  Sir  Cliarles  Davers  on  the 
22d  of  February,  1600-1.  It  has  every  appearance  of 
being  a  genuine,  though  not  a  very  accurate,  transcript 
of  a  deposition  taken  down  from  the  speaker's  mouth  by 
some  one  who  could  not  write  fast  enough,  nor  is  there 
anything  either  in  the  style,  the  matter,  or  the  circum- 
stances, wliich  would  lead  me  to  doul)t  the  veracity  of  the 
deponent.  It  was  first  printed  by  Birch  in  his  "Memoirs 
of  I'^iizabeth,"  from  a  copy  found  among  the  collections 
of  Dr.  Forbes  ;  ami  I  ;nii  not  aware  that  its  genuineness 
lias  ever  been  questiom'd.'    From  this  we  learn  that  when 

1  Since  thiH  was  written,  n  fuir  copy  of  this  declarntion  in  Sir  C.  DavcrH's 
own  iiniul,  appiin-nlly  revised  and  en  lurried,  lias  \\ccn  found  anionj^  the  MSS. 
at  Hattioid,  ami  printed  by  Mr.  John  Bruce  for  the  Camden  Society. 


1599-lGOO.]     ESSEX'S   NEGOTIATIOX   WITH   SCOTLAND.  287 

he  was  committed  to  the  custody  of  the  Lord  Keeper, 
Essex  entrusted  the  care  of  his  fortune  not  to  those  of 
his  friends  who  had  best  credit  with  the  Queen  for  lo}^- 
alty  and  good  service,  but  to  those  who  had  been  admitted 
to  his  own  most  dangerous  secrets,  and  engaged  them- 
selves furthest  with  him  in  his  most  questionable  proceed- 
ings. How  deeply  the  Earl  of  Southampton  had  been  pre- 
viously admitted  into  his  confidence  we  have  seen.  With 
Lord  Montjoy  his  latest  relation,  so  far  as  it  was  known 
to  the  newsmen  of  the  day,  had  been  that  of  successful 
rivalry  for  the  Irish  command,  in  the  autumn  of  1598. 
But  if  that  difference  caused  any  interruption  of  in- 
timacy for  the  time,  the  breach  must  have  been  soon  and 
effectually  healed.  For  in  the  summer  of  1599  Montjoy 
had  undertaken  an  office  on  his  behalf  which  he  would 
never  have  ventured  on  without  some  concert  and  private 
understanding  of  the  most  confidential  kind.  In  the 
summer  of  1599  he  had  dispatched  a  messenger  secretly 
to  Scotland,  with  some  communication  on  the  forbidden 
subject  of  the  succession.  The  terms  are  not  known  ; 
but  the  general  purport  was  to  satisfy  the  King  that  Essex 
would  support  his  claim  to  succeed  to  the  crown  upon 
EHzabeth's  death,  and  to  suggest  some  course  of  proceed- 
ing which  might  lead  to  an  acknowledgment  of  that  claim 
during  her  life.  Now  why  should  Montjoy  meddle  in 
such  a  matter  ?  "  The  cause,"  says  Sir  Charles,  "  that 
moved  my  Lord  Montjoy  to  enter  into  this  course  with 
Scotland  was,  as  he  protested,  his  duty  to  her  Majesty 
and  his  country,  for  he  could  not  think  his  countr}^  safe 
unless  by  declaration  of  a  successor  it  were  strengthened 
against  the  assaults  of  our  most  potent  enemies,  which 
pretended  a  title  thereunto.  Neither  could  he  think  her 
Majesty  so  safe  by  any  means,  as  by  making  her  king- 
dom by  that  means  safe  against  their  attempts.""  So  far 
well.  It  is  easy  to  believe  that  he  thought  such  a  dec- 
laration   desirable,    with  a  view  to    the   public   interest 


288  ESSEX'S  NEGOTIATION  WITH   SCOTLAND.        [Hook  II. 

only.  Most  men  would  have  welcomed  it  as  a  measure 
important  for  the  safety  of  the  country ;  and  had  he 
made  a  speech  or  published  a  pamphlet  urging  the  Queen 
to  adopt  it,  I  should  have  given  him  credit  for  a  bold  and 
patriotic  act  done  at  the  risk  of  a  censure  in  the  Star 
Chamber.  But  how  was  siich  a  thing  to  be  brought 
about  through  a  secret  negotiation  between  the  King  of 
Scots  and  a  private  English  subject  holding  no  office  or 
authority? — and  how  came  Montjoy  to  be  the  nego- 
tiator ?  "  He  entered  into  it  the  rather  at  that  time," 
Sir  Charles  adds,  "  to  serve  my  Lord  of  Essex,  who  by 
loss  of  her  Majesty  was -like  to  run  a  dangerous  fortune, 
unless  he  took  a  course  to  strengtlien  himself  by  that 
means."  How  again  would  the  procuring  of  such  a  dec- 
laration by  such  means  have  strengthened  Essex  ?  It 
was  certainly  not  a  service  which  would  have  inclined  the 
Queen  to  like  him  better.  On  the  contrary,  it  would 
have  made  the  recovery  of  her  favor  hy  fair  means  for- 
ever hopeless.  The  answer  to  these  questions  must 
surely  be,  that  the  negotiation  was  undertaken  not  only 
in  the  interest  of  Essex,  but  in  concert  witli  him  ;  and 
that  the  object  was  to  arrange  some  joint  action  be- 
tween the  King  of  Scots  and  the  English  army  in  Ire- 
land, for  the  purpose  of  compelling  the  Queen  to  assent 
to  a  formal  declaration  of  his  right  to  succeed  her  in  the 
throne  of  England.  We  know  that  Essex  had  begun  to  • 
contemplate  the  necessity  of  resorting,  in  what  lie  called 
self-defense,  to  some  demonstration  of  force.  To  any 
such  demonstration  an  alliance  with  the  King  of  Scots  in 
assertion  of  his  legitimate  title  would  have  given  the 
material  support  of  a  Scotch  army  and  the  moi-al  snj)|)ort 
of  a  fairer  name  than  rebellion  ;  and  would  hav(^  str(;iigth- 
£ned  him  by  making  him  more  foriniilahle.  Hut  I  do 
not  see  what  other  strength  either  he  or  his  friends  could 
huve  lioped  from  such  a  course,  except  strength  of  ai-ms 
in  an  encounter  with  the  Queen's  forces. 


159D-1600.J  DANGERS  AND  FEARS.  289 

If  this  intei'pretation  be  objected  to  as  incredible,  be- 
cause it  implies  an  intention  to  use  the  army  with  which 
he  had  been  entrusted  against  those  from  whom  he  had 
received  the  trust,  let  that  objection  wait  a  little  till  we 
see  the  next  phase  of  the  intrigue. 

The  issue  of  the  negotiation  at  that  time  we  do  not 
know.  I  suppose  it  was  interrupted  by  the  Earl's  sudden 
return  from  Ireland  and  subsequent  detention  in  Eng- 
land, which  not  only  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  play 
his  part  in  the  proposed  demonstration,  but  involved  him 
in  a  danger  quite  different  from  any  he  had  hitherto  had 
to  fear,  and  called  in  his  friends  to  help  him  by  services 
more  within  the  legitimate  limits  of  friendship.  He  was 
now  in  the  Queen's  power  ;  and  though  the  restraint  put 
upon  him  was  as  gentle  as  any  restraint  could  be  which 
was  strict  enough  to  keep  him  wdthin  her  power,  yet  no 
one  knew,  and  his  most  confidential  friends  had  most 
reason  to  fear,  what  might  happen  next.  Reports  that 
he  was  to  be  sent  to  the  Tower  were  the  news  of  every 
w^eek ;  and  those  who  were  deepest  in  his  secrets  best 
knew  how  dangerous  a  place  the  Tower  might  prove  for 
him,  if  all  the  truth  should  by  any  accident  come  to  light. 
How  best  to  provide  against  this  danger  was  now  the 
question.  And  it  was  to  my  Lords  Southampton  and 
Montjoy  that  in  this  emergency  he  committed  the  care 
of  his  fortunes. 

Sir  Charles  Davers  came  up  to  London  about  the  end 
of  October  and  found  them  in  consultation.  It  seems 
that  Sir  Christopher  Blount's  former  recommendation  to 
"  possess  the  Court  with  his  friends,"  as  well  as  Essex's 
own  project  of  making  his  way  into  Wales  (wliere  he 
might  look  for  popular  support),  had  been  reconsidered 
and  upon  consideration  rejected;  and  tliat  a  private 
escape  into  France  was  agreed  upon  as  the  best  thing  to 
attempt.  This,  however,  he  himself  positively  declined, 
saying  that  "  he  would  rather  run  any  danger  than   lead 


290  DANGERS  AND  FEARS.  [Book  II. 

the  life  of  a  fugitive  ;  "  by  which  he  must  have  meant 
that  the  escape  he  looked  for  was  to  some  pliice  where  he 
might  make  resistance. 

Thus  matters  stood  till  about  the  middle  of  November, 
at  which  time  it  was  decided  at  Court  that  ]\Iontjoy 
should  take  command  of  the  aruiy  in  Ireland.  This 
opened  a  new  chance.  Though  the  parts  were  changed 
the  game  might  still  be  played.  A  month  before,  when 
the  employment  was  first  offered  to  Montjoy,  he  had 
tried  to  excuse  himself;  out  of  friendship  (it  was  sup- 
posed) for  Essex,  whom  he  then  believed  it  would  be 
thought  necessary  to  send  back.  This,  however,  being 
out  of  the  question,  and  the  case  of  Ireland  gi'owing 
worse  and  worse,  he  undertook  the  service  ;  and  at  the 
end  of  November  the  news  was  that  he  had  orders  to  be 
ready  within  twenty  days.  Immediately  upon  this  fol- 
lowed the  declaration  in  the  Star  Chamber  concerning 
the  offenses  of  the  Earl,  which  I  have  already  mentioned, 
and  whicii  put  an  end  to  all  hopes  of  a  present  release 
for  him.  And  then  came  a  fresh  proposition  on  his  be- 
half, whicli  will  show  that  to  reject  my  interpretation  of 
Montjoy 's  former  proceeding  on  the  ground  that  it  im- 
plied treachery,  would  have  been  premature. 

The  statement  in  this  case  is  explicit,  and  admits  of  no 
interpretation  but  one.  I  give  the  Avords  precisely  as  I 
find  them. 

"Now  when  tliat  the  government  of  Ireland  was  put  into  my 
Lord  Montjoy 's  hands,  liis  former  motives  growing  stronger  in 
him,  the  danger  of  my  Lord  of  Essex  more  apparent,  being 
earnestly  pressed  by  my  Lord  of  Essex  to  think  of  some  course 
to  relieve  Iiim,  my  Lord  first  swearing,  and  exacting  the  like 
oaths  as  I  rcmemher  from  my  Lord  of  Southampton,  to  defend 
her  Majesty's  person  and  government  over  us  against  all  persons 
whatsoever,  it  was  resolved  to  send  Harry  Leigh  again  into 
Seollaiid,  witli  ofh'r  that  if  the  King  would  enter  into  the  course, 
my  Lord   Montjoy  would  leave  the  kingdom  of  Ii-chmd  defen- 


1599-lGOO.]      SECRET  NEGOTIATION  WITH  MONTJOY.  291 

sively  guarded,  and  with  four  or  five  thousand  meu  assist  him : 
which  with  the  party  that  my  Lord  of  Essex  would  make  head 
withal,  were  thought  sufficient  to  bring  that  to  pass  that  was 
intended." 

The  date  of  this  resolution  is  not  given.  But  as  Mont- 
joy  was  gone  before  Harry  Leigh  returned  from  his  mis- 
sion, I  see  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  he  under- 
took the  command  of  the  Queen's  army  in  Ireland  with 
an  intention  to  use  a  portion  of  it  in  encountering  the 
Queen's  army  in  England.  Difficulties  occurred  which 
gave  him  time  to  think,  and  changes  intervened  which 
supplied  him  with  a  pretext  for  refusing  to  act  upon  it. 
But  this  is  what  he  must  have  been  prepared  for  when 
he  went ;  and  that  stain  must  rest  upon  his  memory. 

The  answer  which  Leigh  brought  back  was  "dilatory." 
A  principal  point  in  the  plans  projected  by  the  Council 
for  recovering  Ireland  was  the  establishment  of  a  strong 
garrison  at  Lough  Foyle,  a  position  at  the  northern  angle 
of  Tyrone's  country,  accessible  by  sea  ;  and  this  garrison 
was  to  furnish  the  men  and  shipping  with  which  Montjoy 
was  to  assist  the  intended  movement.  But  it  was  not 
yet  settled  there  ;  and  until  it  was  settled,  the  King  of 

Scots  was  "  not  ready  to  enter  into  that  attempt 

And  so  that  business  ended." 

It  ended.  That  is,  nothing  further  was  done  in  it. 
But  in  the  meantime  it  left  Essex  apparently  in  a  more 
perilous  condition  than  ever.  For  Leigh,  immediately 
upon  his  return,  was  apprehended  and  imprisoned.  And 
though  the  secret  had  been  so  well  kept  that  the  Govern- 
ment had  not  any  notion  of  what  was  really  going  on,  it 
is  easy  to  undei'stand  how  uncomfortable  Essex  must 
have  felt  upon  such  an  accident ;  especially  when  a  pro- 
aeedinsc  against  him  in  the  Star  Chamber  had  been 
actually  resolved  on  not  long  before,  and  the  day  ap- 
pointed. And  it  was,  we  may  presume,  under  tlie  pres- 
sure of  this  anxiety  that  he  took  the  first  safe  opportuiu'ty 


202  SECRET  NEGOTIATION   WITH  MONTJOY.        [Book  II. 

of  opening  fresh  negotiations  witli  iMontjoy,  and  nrging 
liim  to  carry  out  the  original  design.  Southampton  was 
going  to  Ireland,  and  he  was  to  carry  letters  to  that  pur- 
pose. But  his  departure  had  been  put  off  from  week  to 
week,  and  before  he  started  (26th  April)  a  change  had 
taken  place  in  Essex's  position.  On  the  20th  of  March 
he  had  been  allowed  to  return  to  his  own  house  ;  and 
though  he  was  not  set  at  libert}',  —  for  he  remained  in 
charge  of  a  keeper,  and  under  strict  watch,  —  it  was  con- 
sidered a  sign  of  relenting,  and  a  proof  tliat  no  severe 
proceeding  was  meditated;  ;uid  Montjoy,  liaving  in  the 
mean  time  engaged  earnestly  in  the  very  serious  work 
wliicli  he  had  undertaken,  and  tlic  trust  re])osed  in  liim 
having  had  its  proper  effect  in  making  him  feel  the  duty 
of  fidelity,  would  now  no  longer  listen  to  the  proposal. 
"He  thought  it  more  lawful  to  enter  into  such  a  course 
with  one  that  had  interest  in  the  succession  than  other- 
wise; and  though  he  had  been  led  before,  out  of  the 
oj)inion  he  had  to  do  his  country  good  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  succession,  and  to  deliver  my  Lord  of  Essex 
out  of  the  danger  he  was  in  ;  yet  now  his  life  appeared  to 
be  safe,  to  restore  his  fortune  onl}^  and  to  save  himself 
from  the  danger  which  hung  over  him  by  discover}-,  and 
to  satisfy  my  Lord  of  Essex's  private  ambition,  he  would 
not  enter  into  any  enterprise  of  that  nature."  And  so 
that  project  was  happily  given  up ;  nor  did  any  hint  of 
the  secret  get  abroad  until  Essex  himself,  in  the  hour  of 
his  remorse,  disburdened  his  conscience  of  it. 

Of  all  these  matters  neither  the  people,  nor  the  Queen, 
nor  Bacon  had  any  suspicion.  The  peoj)le,  regarding 
Essex  as  the  greatest  captain  in  the  land,  were  still 
wondering  and  murmui'ing  at  the  treatment  of  their 
favorite.  The,  (^uccii,  knowing  that  he  had  been  per- 
verse, disobedient,  and  iinroitiinatc,  but  refusing  to  bc- 
VuiW.  liim  false,  was  considering  <»n  w  hat  terms  she  might 
receive  him  into  fjivor  again,  without  making  one  of  those 


1599-lGOO.]        JUDICIAL  PROCEEDING  AT  YORK  HOUSE.  293 

concessions  to  bis  humor  which  she  had  tried  so  often  and 
with  such  biid  effect.  Bacon,  still  believing  that  restora- 
tion to  favor  would  withdraw  him  from  temptations 
fraught  with  danger  to  everybody,  was  endeavoring  to 
persuade  the  Queen  to  let  the  case  rest  where  it  was,  and 
to  send  him  some  gracious  message  which  might  open  the 
way  to  reconciliation  ;  and  at  any  rate,  if  she  found  it 
necessary  to  bring  the  case  to  a  formal  hearing,  not  to 
proceed  by  information  in  the  Star  Chamber  (a  course 
which  she  had  been  meditating,  off  and  on,  all  the  spring), 
but  to  confine  it  to  the  council-table.  This  advice  she  in 
the  end  partly  adopted.  For  though  she  could  not  con- 
sent to  rest  under  a  popular  imputation  of  unjust  severity 
towards  one  for  whom  she  well  knew  that  her  partialit}^ 
had  been  too  strong  to  leave  her  judgment  free,  and  was 
therefore  resolved  to  do  something  which  should  meet 
and  put  it  down  ;  yet,  that  point  gained,  she  was  willing 
enough  to  relent.  What  she  wanted  was  to  justify  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people  what  she  had  done,  without  oblig- 
ing herself  to  do  more.  For  this  purpose  it  was  necessary 
to  have  a  proceeding  both  in  substance  and  in  form  judi- 
cial, an  open  accusation  and  defense  ;  but  so  distinguished 
in  its  circumstances  from  ordinary  proceedings  of  the 
kind,  that  the  ordinary  issue  might  without  inconvenience 
be  avoided.  A  public  prosecution  in  the  Star  Chamber 
for  such  offenses  would,  if  successful,  have  entailed  a 
heavy  fine  and  an  imprisonment  in  the  Tower.  By  trans- 
ferring it  to  a  private  room  into  which  the  public  should 
be  admitted  by  favor  and  not  of  right,  by  varying  the 
constitution  of  the  tribunal  and  dispensing  with  the  for- 
malities of  a  record,  while  the  usual  forms  were  in  other 
respects  observed,  it  would  be  made  public  enough  to 
attain  the  end  (whicjh  was  the  satisfaction  of  the  public), 
and  at  the  same  time  so  exceptional  as  to  admit  of  an 
unusual  issue.  Instead  of  the  Star  Chamber,  the  cause 
was  to  be  lieard  in    the   Lord  Keeper's  liouse,  before  a 


294  JUDICIAL  PROCEEDING  AT  YORK  HOUSE.         [Book  II. 

special  commission,  in  which  certain  earls,  barons,  and 
judges  were  associated  with  the  ordinary  members  of  that 
court ;  ^  the  public  not  to  be  admitted  promiscuously;  but 
an  audience,  selected  so  as  to  contain  representatives  of 
all  professions  and  degrees  and  qualities,  to  be  invited  to 
witness  the  proceedings,  —  a  court  resembling  in  com- 
position one  of  those  Great  Councils  which  used  formerly 
to  be  summoned  to  deliberate  on  great  occasions ;  though 
in  other  respects  the  form  of  proceeding,  as  well  as  the 
function  of  the  Commissioners,  was  much  the  same  as  in 
an  ordinary  Star  Chamber  case.  The  members  of  the 
Learned  Counsel  were  to  give  the  information  and  pro- 
duce the  evidence ;  tlie  Earl  was  to  answer  for  himself ; 
the  Commissioners  to  give  their  opinions ;  and  the  Lord 
Keeper  to  pronounce  the  sentence  of  the  Court.  And 
if  it  was  (as  it  has  been  called)  an  unconstitutional 
tribunal,  —  a  point  which  I  cannot  pretend  to  decide,  for 
it  is  difiicult  to  say  what  were  then  the  limits  of  the 
power  which  the  Council  was  understood  to  possess,  — 
the  variation  from  constitutional  practice  was  certainly 
meant  to  be  in  the  prisoner's  favor,  and  was  so  under- 
stood and  iiccc^pted  at  the  time. 

The  Crown  lawyers,  who  received  tlieir  directions  from 
the  Council,  were  specially  warned  not  to  press  the  charge 
to  any  point  implying  disloyalty ;  and  the  main  bus- 
iness fell  of  course  u[)on  Colce.  To  Bacon  was  assigned 
a  part  of  the  case  comparatively  unimportant :  merely 
the  count(Miancing  by  Essex  of  a  book  whicli  had  given 
ofTense  to  the  (^ueen  ;  a  part  which,  though  lie  ditl  not 
like  it,  and  though  he  seems  to  have  thouglit  ilw,  intro- 
duction of  it  int<j  the  case  injudicious,  he  had  no  just 
ground  for  refusing,  being  assigned  to  him  as  it  was  by 

1  The  Commission  conHistnd  of  tho  Archhisliop  of  Cnnterbiirv,  IIki  Lord 
Keeper,  tiie  I<<ir<l  Tn-nsurcr,  tlio  Lord  Adrniriil,  I'jirls  of  Worcester,  Shrewsbury, 
('iinihcrliind,  IIimllMf^doii,  and  Derliy,  Lord  Zoiich,  Sir  W.  Knollys,  Sir  R.  (Jecii, 
Sir  .1.  Korleseiie,  Sir  .L  I'ophnni,  Sir  l^ilnmnd  Andcr'-on,  Sir  W.  I'eriani,  and 
Justices  Gawdv  and  VValmc»lcv. 


1599-1600.]        JUDICIAL  PROCEEDING  AT  YORK  HOUSE.  295 

those  who  were  officially  responsible  for  the  bushiess, 
and  the  business  being  designed  (whether  judiciously 
or  not)  to  clear  the  government  from  imputations  which 
were  unjust,  arising  out  of  a  misapprehension  of  the 
facts,  by  a  course  studiously  contrived  to  make  the  proof 
of  the  offense  compatible  with  indulgence  to  the  of- 
fender. 

This  was  so  well  understood  to  be  the  object  of  the 
pi'oceeding,  that  Essex,  who  knew  well  enough  what  he 
was  to  be  charged  with  (for  the  offenses  were  the  same 
which  he  had  been  called  on  to  answer  before  the  Coun- 
cil, and  which  had  been  openly  declared  in  the  Star 
Chamber),  came  prepared  with  a  speech  of  acknowledg- 
ment and  submission,  to  be  delivered  with  tears  and  tear- 
moving  accents.  But  though  prepared  for  the  substance, 
he  was  not  prepared  for  the  style.  From  the  Councillors, 
whether  friends  or  enemies,  he  had  always  received  good 
language.  In  the  mouth  of  Coke  the  same  charges  as- 
sumed a  form  so  irritating,  that  he  was  provoked  to  alter 
his  tone  and  attempt  a  justification  of  all  his  acts  point 
by  point.  This  marred  the  effect,  and  had  almost  de- 
feated the  purpose  of  the  hearing ;  for  an  exceptional 
indulgence  would  have  been  misplaced  if  the  offense  were 
not  admitted.  This  however  being  represented  to  him, 
he  explained  that  it  was  only  the  charge  of  disloyalty  to 
which  he  could  not  consent  to  plead  guilty ;  and  being 
again  assured  that  nothing  of  that  nature  was  imputed 
to  him,  he  was  content  to  make  a  general  submission 
with  regard  to  the  rest  and  throw  himself  upon  the 
Queen's  mercy.  And  the  Commissioners  being  all  dis- 
posed to  press  as  lightly  upon  him  as  they  could,  and 
evidently  expecting  that  a  reconciliation  would  follow, 
concurred  in  the  sentence  pronounced  by  the  Lord 
Keeper, —  that  he  should  be  suspended  from  the  execu- 
'lion  of  his  offices  and  continue  a  prisoner  in  his  own 
house,  "until  it  should  please  her  Majesty  to  release  both 


296  ESSEX  AT  FULL  LIBERTY  AGAIN.  [Book  I». 

this  and  all  the  rest ; "  a  sentence  amounting  in  effect 
merely  to  a  quasi- judicial  sanction  of  what  had  been  al- 
ready done. 

The  business  was  not  over  till  late  in  the  evening 
of  the  5th  of  June.  On  the  6th  Bacon  saw  the  Queen, 
and  endeavored  to  convince  her  that  all  was  now  well ; 
the  world  reasonably  well  satisfied,  the  Earl  submis- 
sive, and  the  time  come  to  make  an  end  and  receive 
him  into  favor  again.  She  listened  with  apparent  satis- 
faction, but  it  was  fit  that  she  should  know  what  had 
passed  and  take  time  to  consider,  and  she  desired  him  to 
draw  up  an  account  of  it.  Within  a  few  days  he  brought 
her  a  full  narrative  of  the  whole  proceeding,  read  it  to 
her  on  two  several  afternoons,  and  observed  with  pleas- 
ure that  she  was  much  touched  with  the  part  in  which 
he  had  labored  to  set  forth  to  advantage  the  Earl's  own 
answer, —  which  probably  lost  nothing  by  tlie  reporting. 
lie  did  not  succeed  in  persuading  her  to  restore  him  at 
once  to  his  former  favor  ;  and  we  who  know  wliat  ])i'o- 
jects  he  had  been  meditating  just  before  and  Avhat  he 
engaged  in  soon  after,  may  easily  believe  that  she  had 
better  grounds  tlian  Bacon  knew  of  for  suspecting  the 
sincerity  of  his  submission,  and  being  disappointed  with 
the  result  of  the  proceeding.  It  has  always  been  reck- 
oned among  the  Earl's  virtues  that  lie  was  a  bad  dissem- 
bler ;  and  if  in  his  present  state  of  mind  he  could  assume 
the  natural  language  and  bearing  of  fidelity  and  lo^'alt}', 
he  must  have  been  a  very  good  one.  Yet  after  some 
hesitation  and  d(!lay  she  justified  the  opinion  which  liad 
been  conceiv<'d  with  regard  to  the  spirit  in  wliit-h  hIk; 
was  proceeding.  Within  a  nionlli  she  released  liini  t'inm 
liis  keeper  ;  and  alxnit  six  weeks  after  gave  him  lilxTly 
to  go  where  li(3  would,  except  to  Court. 

1'his  opens  a  new  chapter  in  his  fortunes.  No  longer 
in  danger,  no  longer  under  i-cstraint,  he  cannot  h(Miccforth 
be  supposed  to  be  acting  from  fear.     All  that  in  the  life 


1599-lGOO.]  ESSEX  AT  FULL  LIBERTY   AGAIN.  2V)7 

of  ii  private  man  is  most  prized  —  freedom,  leisure,  pop- 
ularity, wealth,  gifts  of  nature,  and  accomplishments  of 
education,  —  he  possesses  in  greater  abundance  than  most 
other  men.  If  his  purposes  are  good  and  his  aspirations 
pure,  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  he  may  not  be 
happy  in  retirement,  and  earn  the  right  to  reappear  in 
his  former,  or  more  than  his  former,  greatness. 


CHAPTER   V. 

A.  D.  1600,  JULY  —  1601,  FEBRUARY.      JETAT.  40. 

Of  Bacon's  speech  in  the  proceeding  at  York  House 
on  the  5th  of  June  the  report  is  so  meagre  that  we  can- 
not judge  for  ourselves  of  the  spirit  in  which  he  executed 
his  task.  We  only  know  that  he  distinctly  disclaimed  on 
behalf  of  the  government  all  intention  to  charge  the  Earl 
with  disloyalty,  ''  for  if  that  (he  said)  had  been  the 
question,  this  had  not  been  the  place,"  and  that  after 
"  considering  particularly  the  journey  into  Ireland,"  he 
proceeded  to  the  two  points  on  which  he  had  been  in- 
structed to  enlarge  by  way  of  admonition,  —  namely,  cer- 
tain presumptuous  expressions  contained  in  the  Earl's 
letter  to  the  Lord  Keeper  in  1598,  and  his  patronage  of 
Dr.  Hayward's  book,  of  which  part  the  reporter  has  only 
preserved  one  or  two  disconnected  sentences.  The  sub- 
ject was  not  of  his  own  choosing ;  and  for  the  manner  of 
treatment,  on  which  in  such  a  case  everything  depends, 
as  I  do  not  find  that  au}'^  fault  Avas  found  with  him  at  this 
time  by  the  Earl's  partisans, ^  and  as  it  is  certain  that 
during  the  next  three  months  he  wtis  doing  his  best  to 
bring  about  a  reconciliation  and  that  his  services  in  that 
behalf  —  services  of  a  very  confidential  kind  —  were  will- 
ingly accepted  and  employed  by  the  Earl  himself,  I  infer 
tluit  it  w;us  not  unfriendly. 

Tliose  services  commenced  the  next  day,  as  I  have 
already  stated,  in  a  private  conversation  with  the  Queen ; 

'   l)r.  Abbott  has  Hinro  found  a  Icttor  from   Sir  (lilly  Mi'vrii'k   to  thi;   Karl  of 
Soiitliaiiipton,  in  wliich  bo  r<iiii])biins  tlial  l!a<'on  was   "very  idlu." 


1000-1601.]      BACON'S   OFFER   OF   HIS  GOOD  OFFICES.  299 

and  were  followed  up  shortly  after  by  a  letter  to  the  Earl, 
in  which  he  took  occasion,  as  he  had  so  often  done  before, 
to  define  frankly  and  clearly  the  conditions  of  the  service 
which  he  offered. 

TO   THE  EAEL  OF   ESSEX. 

My  Loed,  —  No  man  can  better  expound  ray  doings 
than  your  Lordship,  which  maketh  me  need  to  say  the 
less.  Only  I  humbly  pray  you  to  believe  that  I  aspire 
to  the  conscience  and  commendation  first  of  bonus  civis, 
which  with  us  is  a  good  and  true  servant  to  the  Queen, 
and  next  of  bonus  ^'^V,  that  is  an  honest  man.  I  desire 
your  Lordship  also  to  think  that  though  I  confess  I  love 
some  things  much  better  than  I  love  your  Lordship,  as 
the  Queen's  service,  her  quiet  and  contentment,  her 
honor,  her  favor,  the  good  of  my  country,  and  the  like, 
3^et  I  love  few  persons  better  than  yourself,  both  for 
gratitude's  sake,  and  for  your  own  virtues,  which  cannot 
hurt  but  b}^  accident  or  abuse.  Of  which  my  good  affec- 
tion I  was  ever  and  am  ready  to  yield  testimony  by 
any  good  offices  but  with  such  reservations  as  yourself 
cannot  but  allow  ;  for  as  I  was  ever  sorry  that  your  Lord- 
ship should  fly  with  waxen  wings,  doubting  Icarus'  for- 
tune, so  for  the  growing  up  of  your  own  feathers,  spe- 
cially ostrich's,  or  any  other  save  of  a  bird  of  prey,  no 
man  shall  be  more  glad.  And  this  is  the  axletree  where- 
upon I  have  turned  and  shall  turn ;  which  to  signify  to 
you,  though  I  think  you  are  of  yourself  persuaded  as 
much,  is  the  cause  of  my  writing,  and  so  I  commend  your 
Lordship  to  God's  goodness.  From  Gray's  Inn,  this  20th 
day  of  July,  1600. 

Your  Lordship's  most  humbly, 

Fr.  Bacon. 

To  this  letter  Essex  returned  an  answer  such  as  Bacon 
micrht  himself  have  dictated. 


300  ANSWER   TO   LETTER  OF  BACON.  [Book  II. 

AN   ANSWER   OF  MY   LORD   OP   ESSEX,  TO   THE  PRECED- 
ING  LETTER   OF   INIR.    BACON. 

Mr.  Bacon,  —  I  can  neither  expound  nor  censure  your  late 
actions:  being  ignorant  of  all  of  them  save  one;  and  having  di- 
rected my  sight  inward  only,  to  examine  myself.  You  do  pray 
me  to  believe  that  you  only  aspire  to  the  conscience  and  com- 
mendation of  bonus  civis  and  homes  vir ;  and  I  do  foithfully  as- 
sure you,  that  while  that  is  your  ambition  (though  your  course 
be  active  and  mind  contemplative)  yet  we  shall  both  coiwenire 
in  eodem  tertio ;  and  convenire  inter  nosipsos.  Your  profession 
of  affection,  and  offer  of  good  offices,  are  welcome  to  me.  For 
answer  to  them  I  will  say  but  this  :  that  you  have  believed  I 
have  been  kind  to  you,  and  you  may  believe  that  I  cannot  be 
other,  either  upon  humor  or  mine  own  election.  I  am  a  stranger 
to  all  poetical  conceits,  or  else  I  should  say  somewhat  of  your 
poetical  example.  But  this  I  must  say,  that  I  never  flew  with 
other  wings  than  desire  to  merit,  and  confidence  in  my  Sov- 
ereign's favor ;  and  when  one  of  these  wings  failed  me,  I  would 
light  nowhere  but  at  my  Sovereign's  feet,  though  she  suffered 
me  to  be  bruised  with  my  fall.  And  till  her  Majesty,  that  knows 
I  was  never  bird  of  prey,  finds  it  to  agree  with  her  will  and  her 
service  that  my  wings  should  be  imped  again,  I  have  committed 
myself  to  the  mue.  No  power  but  my  God's,  and  my  Sov- 
ereign's, can  alter  this  resolution  of 

Your  retired  friend 

Essex. 

Words  could  not  describe  an  attitude  of  mind  more 
becoming  to  the  Earl's  present  position,  or  one  which 
Bacon  more  wished  him  to  maintain  ;  and  if  lie  had  liad 
jiatifiice  to  maintain  it,  it  is  jjrobable  tliat  in  spite  of  all 
that  had  passed  tli(;  Qiiren  woiihl  have  once  more  for- 
gotten or  forgiven  his  many  olTenses  and  recuiived  him 
again  into  favor.  Caiitious  she  was,  and  suspicions,  and 
distrustful  of  fair  words,  as  she  niiglit  well  be.  But 
Bacon,  judging  from  her  demeanor,  lived  in  continual 
expeclalion    that  she    would    relent.      "Having   received 


1600-1601.]     LETTERS  DRAWN  UP   BY    BACON  FOR  ESSEX.      801 

from  his  Lordship  a  courteous  and  loving  acceptation  of 
ni}'  good  will  and  endeavors,  I  did  apply  it  in  all  my  ac- 
cesses to  the  Queen,  which  were  very  many  at  that  time, 
and  purposely  sought  and  wrought  upon  other  variable 
pretenses,  but  only  and  chiefly  for  that  purpose.  And  on 
the  other  side  I  did  not  forbear  to  give  my  Lord  from 
time  to  time  faithful  advertisement  of  what  I  found  and 
what  I  wished.  And  I  drew  for  him  by  his  appointment 
some  letters  to  her  Majesty ;  which  though  I  knew  well 
his  Lordship's  gift  and  style  to  be  far  better  than  mine 
own,  yet  because  he  required  it,  alleging  that  by  his  long 
restraint  he  was  grown  almost  a  stranger  to  the  Queen's 
jjresent  conceits,  I  was  ready  to  perform  it ;  and  sure  I 
am  that  for  the  space  of  six  weeks  or  two  months  it  pros- 
pered so  well,  as  I  expected  continually  his  restoring  to 
his  attendance.  And  I  was  never  better  welcome  to  the 
Queen  nor  more  made  of  than  when  I  spake  fullest  and 
boldest  for  him."i 

Of  the  letters  drawn  up  by  Bacon  in  Essex's  name  two 
have  been  preserved,  which  may  possibly  belong  to  this 
period.  The  object  in  both  was  to  bring  about  what  at 
this  time  Bacon  most  wished  to  see,  namely,  a  personal 
interview  ;  and  the  motive  suggested  was  a  consciousness 
on  the  Earl's  part  of  being  in  the  dark  as  to  her  wishes 
and  feelings,  and  an  earnest  desire  for  explanation  and  di- 
rection, in  order  that  he  might  in  future  avoid  all  coui'scs 
that  were  distasteful,  and  serve  her  according  to  her  own 
mind.  But  letters  conceived  in  this  spirit,  though  much 
more  likely  to  dispose  the  Queen  to  a  renewal  of  personal 
intercourse,  as  well  as  much  more  becoming  in  them- 
selves, than  the  vague  language  of  affected  love  and  de- 
spair in  wOiich  the  Earl  himself  was  in  the  habit  of  ad- 
dressing her,  must  have  been  either  much  modified  to 
bring  them  into  conformity  with  the  Earl's  ordinary 
etyle,  or  exposed  to  suspicion  of  insincerity  from  the  con 

1  Apobgy. 


302        LETTERS   DRAWN   UP  BY  BACON   FOR  ESSEX.      [Book  II 

trast ;  and  the  Queen  might  be  better  satisfied  as  to  the 
real  state  of  his  mind  if  she  knew  how  he  expressed  him- 
self to  other  people,  —  speaking  of  her,  not  to  her.  An- 
thony Bacon  was  the  person  to  whom  on  such  a  subject 
he  would  most  naturally  open  himself,  and  it  was  accord- 
ingly arranged  that  letters  should  pass  between  them 
framed  for  that  purpose.  "  It  was  at  the  self-same  time 
that  I  did  draw  with  my  Lord's  privity  and  by  his 
appointment  two  lettere,  the  one  written  as  from  my 
brother,  the  other  as  an  answer  returned  from  my  Lord, 
both  to  be  by  me  in  secret  manner  showed  to  the  Queen  ; 
....  the  scope  of  which  was  but  to  represent  and  pic- 
ture forth  unto  her  Majesty  my  Lord's  mind  to  be  stich 
as  I  knew  her  Majesty  Avould  fainest  have  had  it ;  which 
letters  whosoever  shall  see  (for  they  cannot  now  be  re- 
tracted or  altered,  being  by  reason  of  my  brother's  or  his 
Lordship's  servants'  delivery  long  since  come  into  divers 
hands),  let  iiim  judge,  especially  if  he  knew  the  Queen 
and  do  remember  those  times,  whether  they  were  not  the 
labors  of  one  that  sought  to  bring  the  Queen  about  for 
my  Lord  of  Essex  his  good."  ^ 

Anthon}'  Bacon's  letter  was  to  urge  the  Earl  not  to 
despair  of  recovering  tlie  Queen's  favor;  to  show  how  in 
all  her  recent  dealings  with  him  slie  had  taken  care  to 
alh)W  no  step  to  be  taken  which  should  be  inconsistent 
with  his  restoration,  and  that  "upon  the  whohi  matter, 
neither  in  her  Majesty's  person,  uov  in  his  own  person, 
xu)V  in  any  third  person,  neitiier  in  formcu-  precedents  nor 
in  his  own  case,"  was  there  "any  cause  of  dry  and  per- 
emptory despair."  Essex  was  to  answer,  that  as  far  as  the 
(^ui'en's  intention  was  concerncnl,  ho  believed  it  all  ;  but 
that  as  then;  were  people  about  her  who  had  had  influ- 
ence enough  to  overrule  her  intentions  hitherto,  they 
would  still  use  it;  that  those  who  had  succeeded  against 
her  wish  in  Vninging  his  (lause  to  a  sentence,  would  sue- 

1  Apulotjy. 


1600-1601.]     LETTERS  DRAWN  UP   BY   BACON   FOR   ESSEX.      303 

3eed  in  preventing  his  reetonition  to  her  fuvor ;  and  as 
he  could  not  hope  to  serve,  he  must  be  content  to  pray 
for  her.  Such  a  theory  of  her  proceedings,  and  such  a 
temper  in  Essex,  Bacon  judged  it  expedient  to  present 
indirectly  to  the  Queen's  mind,  as  that  which  would  both 
stimulate  her  to  prove  that  she  was  mistress  and  revive 
her  tenderness  towards  the  man;  and  this  was  the  device 
by  which  he  proposed  to  manage  it :  a  device  which  has 
been  censured  as  immoral  because  the  correspondence 
was  to  be  represented  to  the  Queen  as  spontaneous  and 
not  meant  to  go  further ;  whereas  it  was  really  meant  for 
her  to  see.  It  involved,  no  doubt,  the  concealment  of 
part  of  the  truth.  But  so  does  the  suppression  by  a 
friend's  advice  of  an  angry  letter  written  under  a  sense 
of  injury,  and  the  substitution  of  a  courteous  one  ;  a  pro- 
ceeding which,  though  contrived  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
cealing from  the  other  party  the  real  state  of  the  writer's 
feelings  and  thereby  suppressing  part  of  the  truth,  no 
one  would  call  immoral.  All  the  rest  of  the  transaction 
was  in  good  faith.  The  contents  of  each  letter  were 
known  and  approved  by  the  party  that  signed  it.  An- 
thony Bacon  really  believed  for  the  reasons  there  as- 
signed that  the  Queen  would  receive  Essex  into  favor 
again,  if  he  would  be  patient.  Essex  really  believed  that 
unfriendly  counsellors  stood  between  him  and  her.  And 
the  temper  which  his  letter  expressed  was  not  only  that 
in  which  Bacon  most  wished  him  to  be  and  continue,  but 
of  which  he  was  himself  content  for  awhile  at  least  to 
put  on  the  appearance,  and  see  what  it  would  bring. 

The  first  thing  it  brought  was  liberty.  On  the  26tli 
of  August  he  was  formally  released  from  all  remaining 
restraint,  except  that  which  still  forbade  him  to  appear 
at  Court  without  leave.  A  little  patience  in  the  same 
coui-se  would  probably  have  brought  about  a  complete 
reconciliation.  But  patience  implies  delay,  and  when 
dangerous  secrets  are  involved,  anxiety  may  make  delay 


304  TEMPER   IX   WHR  11   HE   WAS.  [Hook  II. 

intolerable.  As  long  as  bis  secrets  were  safe  —  secrets, 
be  it  remembered,  of  whicb  Bacon  bad  no  suspicion,  — 
Essex  bad  notbing  eitber  to  bear  or  to  fear  worse  tban 
want  of  power  and  favor.  But  wbat  if  tbey  sbould  by 
any  accident  come  to  tbe  Queen's  knowledge  ?  In  tbat 
case  be  migbt  well  fear  for  bis  bead,  unless  be  could  in 
tbe  mean  time  make  bimself  too  dangerous  to  be  attacked. 
To  make  bimself  so  be  bad  two  cbances :  one  tbrougb 
tbe  Queen's  favor,  wbicli  was  to  be  won  by  tbe  exbibition 
of  loyal  affection  ;  tbe  otber  tbrougb  arrangements  witb 
Scotland  and  tbe  army  in  Ireland  for  self-defense.  And 
it  seems  tbat,  not  able  to  rely  boldly  upon  eitber,  be 
wanted  to  secure  botb.  To  tbe  Commissioners  wbo  con- 
veyed to  bim  tbe  Queen's  order  for  bis  liberty,  be  de- 
clared tbat  it  was  bis  wisb  to  live  a  private  life  in  tbe 
country  ;  and  only  desired  permission  to  see  ber  once 
before  be  went.  To  tbe  Queen  berself  be  wrote  letter 
after  letter  in  tbe  language  of  a  man  wbo  valued  notbing 
in  tbe  world  apart  from  ber  favor.  Ilis  request  to  see 
ber  being  refused,  be  retired  into  tbe  countiy  in  tbe  be- 
ginning of  September;  remained  quiet  tbere  for  tbe  rest 
of  tbe  montb  ;  and  returned  to  Essex  House  in  October, 
wb('r(^  "be  lived"  (as  far  as  tbe  newsmen  of  tbe  time 
couM  learn)  "  very  private,  bis  gate  sluit  day  and  nigbt," 
suing  unsuecessfully  for  a  renewal  of  bis  monopoly  of 
s\v(!et  wines,  but  "  well,  and  witb  great  patience  emlui- 
ing  tbe  beavy  cross  of  ber  Majesty's  displeasure  towards 
bim."  Sucb  was  tbe  aspect  lu;  ])resented  to  llui  woi'ld 
in  gen(!ral,  ami  to  tliose  of  bis  friends  witb  wbom,  as  witb 
tbe  Bacons,  be  could  only  venture  ui)on  a  balf-cnnlidence. 
To  tbosi!  wboni  be  regarded  as  assunsd  partisans  tbrougb 
tbiek  and  tbin,  be  a])|)eared  in  a  v(!ry  dilTerent  ligbt,  —  a 
man  restU^ss  and  ini})atieiit;  bent  on  recovering  bis  great- 
ness, if  nf)t  by  liiwful  tben  by  unlawful  means;  reiunving 
bis  invitation  tf)  tbe  King  of  S('<)ts  to  take  more  vigorous 
measures   for   tbe   recognition   of   bis    title;   applying   to 


I600-1G01.]  TEMPER   IX  WHICH   HE  WAS.  305 

Lord  Montjoy  for  a  letter  of  remonstrance,  under  color 
of  which,  should  his  suit  for  the  monopoly  (the  lease  of 
which  was  to  expire  at  Michaelmas)  be  rejected,  he  might 
"by  means  of  his  friends  present  himself  to  the  Queen ; " 
that  is,  make  himself  master  of  the  Court ;  revolving 
many  half-digested  plans  for  engaging  popular  sympathy 
and  support ;  and  betraying  in  the  agitations  of  uncer- 
tainty and  anxiety  a  disorder  of  mind  resembling  mad- 
ness. "  It  resteth  with  me  in  opinion  (writes  Sir  John 
Harington)  that  ambition  thwarted  in  his  career  doth 
speedil}^  lead  on  to  madness :  and  herein  I  am  confirmed 
by  what  I  learn  of  my  Lord  of  Essex ;  who  shifteth  from 
sorrow  and  repentance  to  rage  and  rebellion  so  suddenh^ 
as  well  proveth  him  devoid  of  good  reason  or  of  right 
mind.  In  my  last  discourse  he  uttered  strange  words 
bordering  on  such  strange  designs,  that  made  me  hasten 
forth  and  leave  his  presence.  Thank  heaven  I  am  safe 
at  home,  and  if  I  go  in  such  troubles  again,  I  deserve  the 
gallows  for  a  meddling  fool.  His  speeches  of  the  Queen 
become  no  man  who  hath  mens  sana  in  eorpore  sano. 
He  hath  ill  advisers,  and  much  evil  hath  sprung  from 
this  source.  The  Queen  well  knoweth  how  to  humble 
the  haughty  spirit,  the  haughty  spirit  knoweth  not  how 
to  yield,  and  the  man's  soul  seemeth  tossed  to  and  fro 
like  the  waves  of  a  troubled  sea." 

Of  all  this  Bacon  knew  nothing.  He  may  have  felt 
that  the  Earl's  professions  of  devotion  to  the  Queen  did 
not  spring  out  of  any  deep  feeling  either  of  love  or  rever- 
ence ;  but  he  did  not  know  that  his  attitude  of  despairing 
affection  was  deliberately  assumed  as  a  mask ;  that  he 
wore  armor  under  his  gown  ;  and  was  prepared,  if  he 
could  not  gain  his  end  hj  begging,  to  take  it  by  force. 
Had  he  been  aware  of  this,  he  would  have  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  accounting  for  the  revulsion  he  describes  as  tak- 
ing place  about  Michaelmas  in  the  Queen's  feelings.  It 
was  at  Michaelmas  tliat  Essex's  monopoly-patent  expired, 

voi„  I.  20 


306  TEMPER  IN   WHICH   HE  WAS.  [Book  IT. 

the  renewal  or  non-renewal  of  which  he  had  determined 
to  regard  as  a  decisive  test  of  the  Queen's  disposition 
towards  him ;  and  in  case  of  non-renewal  to  abandon  at 
once  the  trial  of  patience  and  submission,  and  resolve 
upon  some  other  course.  The  disposal  of  the  lease  re- 
mained in  suspense  till  the  end  of  October,  when  it  was 
assigned  to  Commissioners  for  the  Queen's  own  use  ;  and 
Essex  took  his  resolution  accordingly.  Such  a  resolu- 
tion in  such  a  mind  would  inevitably  produce  a  change  of 
manner  which  would  put  the  Queen  upon  her  guard, 
even  if  we  reject  as  scandal  the  report  that  it  betrayed 
him  into  expressions  of  coarse  contempt,  Avhieh  were 
repeated  to  her  ;  and  though  Bacon  in  his  "  Apology," 
dealing  as  tenderly  as  possible  with  the  Earl's  memory, 
shrinks  from  suggesting  the  true  explanation,  Montjoy, 
to  whom  it  was  addressed,  and  who  knew  better  than 
Bacon  what  E.ssex  had  really  been  about  all  this  time, 
Avould  easily  supply  the  omission  ;  which  being  supplied, 
the  issue  follows  naturally  enough.  "  The  truth  is  " 
(proceeds  the  "  Apology,  "  immediately  after  the  words 
last  quoted  from  it)  "  that  the  issue  of  all  his  dealing 
grew  to  this,  that  the  Queen,  by  some  slackness  of  my 
Lord's,  as  I  imagine,  liked  him  worse  and  worse,  and 
grew  more  incensed  towards  him.  Then  she,  remember- 
ing belike  the  continual  and  incessant  and  confident 
speeches  and  courses  that  I  had  held  on  my  Lord's  side, 
became  utterly  alienated  from  me,  and  for  the  space  of  at 
least  three  months,  which  was  between  Michaelmas  and 
New  Ytiar's  tide  following,  would  not  so  much  as  look  on 
me,  but  turned  away  from  me  with  express  and  purpose- 
like discountenance  wheresoever  she  saw  me." 

Thus  we  8<ie  that  from  the  latter  part  of  July  to  the 
end  of  September  Bacon,  tliough  treated  as  a  confidential 
adviser,  had  really  been  kej)t  in  the  dark  as  to  half  the 
Earl's  case  ;  and  that  from  the  end  of  September  his  in- 
fliHMJce  over  his  conduct  and  fortunes  was  entirely  at  au 


lCOO-1601.]     PREPARATIONS   FOR   SriJPPJSING  TIIK  COURT.      307 

e)id.  Tlu'iieeforward,  the  Queen's  ear  beir.g  shut  acjaiust 
him,  and  Essex  following  his  own  coui-se  not  only  against 
his  advice  (as  he  had  long  done)  but  without  his  knowl- 
edge, he  had  no  means  of  interfering  either  to  guide  hiin 
from  errors  or  to  protect  him  from  the  consequences  of 
them. 

For  awhile  therefore  he  retires  into  the  background 
and  occupies  himself  about  his  proper  business ;  which 
was  partly  the  business  of  the  Counsel  Learned  in  look- 
ing after  matters  of  law  and  revenue  ;  parth',  I  suppose 
the  preparation  of  his  Reading  on  the  Statute  of  Uses, — 
for  he  had  just  been  chosen  Double  Reader  at  Gray's  Inn 
for  the  following  Lent,  and  was  about  to  deliver  a  course 
of  lectures  on  that  subject ;  and  partly  the  payment  of 
debts  and  clearing  of  his  estate  from  embarrassment. 

The  Earl  of  Essex  in  the  mean  time,  being  left  to  his 
own  counsels  and  the  suggestions  of  bold  men  who  had 
already  gone  too  far  with  him  to  be  safe  without  going 
further,  returned  to  the  policy  from  which  accident  and 
better  advice  had  diverted  him,  and  applied  himself  to 
prepare  means  of  forcing  access  to  the  Court  in  such  a 
shape  that  he  might  make  his  own  conditions.  The  con- 
ditions were  of  course  to  be  for  the  general  benefit ;  but 
as  he  had  tried  in  vain  to  obtain  them  without  force, 
there  was  no  help  for  it  —  he  must  use  force  to  obtain 
them.  With  this  view  he  had  already  for  tiie  second 
time  applied  to  Lord  Montjo3\  Two  months  before  the 
expiration  of  his  lease  of  the  monopoly  of  sweet  wines, 
he  had  sent  Sir  Charles  Davers  over  to  Ireland  to  com- 
municate his  designs  anil  make  arrangements  for  coop- 
eration. But  Montjoy,  who  was  now  proceeding  warily 
and  prosperously  with  his  proper  work,  disapj) roved  tlie 
project  and  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Flrlji 
from  tlie'army  in  Ireland,  therefore,  which  he  had  always 
looked  to  as  a  principal  arm  of  his  enterprise,  he  was 
obliged  to  dispense  with.     But  he  ftill  had  hopes  of  as- 


•308      PREPARATIONS   FOR  SURPRISING   THE  COURT.     [Book  II. 

sistiiuce  from  Scotland.  The  legitimate  interest  which 
the  King  had  in  the  succession  gave  him  a  right  to  watch 
witli  jealousy  all  movements  which  bore  upon  the  disposal 
of  the  crown  after  the  Queen's  death.  And  if  he  could 
be  persuaded  that  the  guidance  of  affairs  in  England  was 
now  in  the  hands  of  persons  who  favored  the  title  of  the 
Infanta,  that  the  people  were  on  that  ground  extremely 
discontented,  and  that  the  object  of  Essex  was  merely 
to  remove  and  replace  them  by  persons  friendly  to  his 
title,  he  might  be  induced  to  countenance  and  assist  the 
action.  Communications  were  made  accordingly,  and 
though  care  was  taken  to  destroy  all  record  of  the  par- 
ticulars, there  yet  remains  a  letter  of  instructions  ad- 
dressed by  James  to  his  ambassadors,  from  which  it  may 
be  probably  inferred  that  this  was  in  fact  the  general 
tenor  of  them. 

His  next  care  was  to  draw  into  the  enterprise  as  many 
men  of  note  and  ability  as  could  be  gained.  And  this 
was  to  be  done  by  working  upon  the  discontents  of  those 
who  were  ah'eady  discontcnteil,  and  exciting  discontent 
in  those  who  were  not.  The  "  strange  words  bordering 
on  strange  designs  "  which  alarmed  Sir  John  Marington 
were  probably  meant  for  feelers.  And  as  early  as  the 
beginning  of  August  (about  the  same  time  that  Davei-s 
was  sent  to  Alontjoy)  he  had  certainly  m;u]o.  an  elaborate 
attempt  to  breed  misunderstanding  between  Sir  Henry 
Nevill  and  ihe  Court.  Sir  Henry  Nevill  was  a  kinsman 
of  Sir  lv()l)ert  Cecil's  ;  was  then  ambassador  in  France; 
and  w:i.s  returning  to  England  on  the  business  of  his  em- 
bassy, in  which  something  had  gone  wrong.  The  first 
thing  thiit  met  him  on  his  arrival  w;is  a  friendly  warn- 
ing from  the  I^arl  of  Essex  (hift  at  his  lodgings  the  day 
before  1)\  Ileiiiv  ('Ulle)  that  bad  oflioes  had  been  done 
him  at  ("onri,  and  that  they  meant  to  lay  u|)on*  him  the 
bhune  of  the  niis('aiTiiige  :  a  statement  which  prov(!d  to 
\)('  (piit<'  gioiiiidje.ss.      And   afterwards  during  all   that 


ICOO-lGOl.]     PKi:PAii.VTION.S    l\)K   SL'Kl'UISING   THE   COURT.      309 

year  great  pains  were  taken  tt)  draw  liini  into  commu- 
nication  with    the   Earl's    most    intimate  advisers;    nor 
altogether  without  success  :  for  he  was  betrayed  into  a 
knowledge,  though  not  into  participation  or  approval,  of 
their  designs.     By  like  means  and  under  various  pretexts 
a  great  number  of  considerable  persons  were  drawn  in, 
more  or  less  deeply,  and  with  more  or  less  knowledge  of 
what  was  really  going  on.     The  Catholics  were  flattered 
by  promises  or  what  they  took  for  promises  of  toleration  ; 
the  Puritans  by  show  of  sympathy ;  stories  of  Spanish 
intrigues  were  set  afloat  to  alarm  the  multitude  ;  and  all 
plausible  courses  were  taken  to  attract  towards  Essex 
House  men  of  all  sorts  that  were  thought  likely  to  favor 
the    objects  or  follow   the  fortunes   of   the  conspirators 
when  they  should  be  ready  for  action  ;  the  nature  and 
even  the  existence  of  the  conspiracy  being  all  the  while 
carefully  concealed  from  all  but  a  very  few  persons  who 
met  in  secret  conclave  at  Drury  House — a  house  in  the 
neiirhborhood,  belonmno;  I  believe  to  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton,  in  which  Sir  Charles  D avers  lodged.     By  the 
end  of  January,  1600-1,   all  these   intrigues  and  secret 
consultations  had  ripened  into  a  deliberate  and  deep-laid 
plan  for  surprising  the  Court,  mastering  the  guard,  and 
seizing  the  Queen's  person  ;  and  so  forcing  her  to  dismiss 
from  her  counsels   Cecil,  Ralegh,  Cobham,  and   others, 
and  to  make  such  changes  in  the  state  as  the  conspirators 
thought  fit.     By  the  4th  of  February  the  plan  of  action 
had  been  agreed  upon  ;  the  posts  and  parts  of  the  several 
leaders  assigned  ;  everything  settled  except  the  day  :  and 
the  secret  was  still  safe.     But  though  the  arrangements 
were  the  work  of  a  few  heads,  the  execution  required 
many  hands ;  and  as  the  time  drew  near  and  the  forces 
gathered,  it  became  impossible  to  manage  matters  so  as 
not  to  attract  attention.     On  the  7th  of  February,  which 
was  a  Saturday,  the  stir  about  Essex  House  had  become 
80  great  that  the  Council  thought  it  needed  looking  after ; 


810     i'i;ErAi;ATK)NS  fou  suurRisiXG  the  couut.     [r.  ok  ir. 

and  a  son  of  tlie  Lord  Treasurer's  was  sent  tliitlier  as 
on  some  ordinary  occasion  of  compliment,  tliat  lie  might 
see  what  was  going  on.  Upon  whose  report  one  of  the 
Secretaries  of  State  was  dispatched  to  summon  the  Earl 
himself  to  come  and  speak  with  them.  He,  conscious  of 
his  own  secrets  and  imagining  that  they  knew  more  than 
they  really  did  (for  as  yet  they  did  not  in  fact  know  any- 
thing, and  meant  only  "to  reprove  him  for  his  unlawful 
assemblies  and  wish  him  to  retiie  into  the  country  "),  and 
fearing  an  arrest,  sent  word  that  he  was  too  ill  to  go ;  and 
immediately  called  his  fellow-conspirators  into  council. 
What  was  to  be  done  ?  The  plot  was  evidently  in  danger 
of  discovery,  and  could  not  wait  the  duo  time.  The  blow 
must  be  struck  at  once  or  it  would  be  intercepted.  But 
how  ?  Their  party  was  not  strong  enough  to  master  the 
(Jourt  except  by  surprise,  and  surprise  would  not  be 
]jr;ictit'able  if  alarm  had  been  taken.  Their  best  chance 
seemed  to  be  an  appeal  to  the  City.  The  citizens  were 
for  the  most  part  armed  and  trained,  and  the  Earl  hav- 
ing always  been  a  favorite  Avith  them,  a  plausible  pretext 
might  bring  them  to  his  side  in  numbers  suilicient  to 
ovei-power  resistance.  But  what  should  the  prc^text  be  ? 
For  what  object  could  they  be  called  on  to  arm  ?  For 
the  name  of  Essex  had  not  as  yet  been  associated  witii 
any  object  of  popular  desire,  except  victory  over  foreign 
enemies  or  domestic  rebels.  It  had  never  meant  liberty, 
or  plenty,  or  justice,  or  no-Popery.  And  ;in  unorganized 
multitude',  however  eager  it  may  be  in  alVeeliou  for  a 
m:in,  will  hardly  tak(^  up  arms  and  follow  liiiu  into  the 
belli  without  knowing  what  for.  'I'lie  story  of  a  plot 
among  the  ministeis  in  favor  of  the  infanta,  which  had 
bcHMi  invented  to  alarm  tin;  King  (»f  Scots  and  di-aw  him 
into  tlie  enterprise,  might  luive  served  the  jmrpose  if  it 
could  have  been  made  cicdiljlc.  But  though  it  had  be(Mi 
already  set  afloat  in  London,  it  was  nu'ant,  I  fancy,  to  ])ro- 
duce  its  elTcMtt  further  oIT.     At  the  other  end  of  the  island 


1600-lGOl.]      PLAN   OF  ACTION   SUDDENLY  CHANGED.  311 

such  a  runiDi'  miglit  obtain  some  credit,  and  serve  to  jus- 
tify or  to  stimulate  the  proposed  interference  of  the  King 
in  behalf  of  his  title.  But  in  London  who  could  believe 
it  ?  The  best  thing  they  could  think  of  was  an  appeal 
to  the  affection  of  the  people  for  Essex  himself.  Multi- 
tudes are  always  ready  to  believe  that  their  favorites  are 
ill  used  :  and  if  they  thought  that  Essex  was  in  personal 
danger  they  would  gather  to  the  rescue  fast  enough. 
With  this  hope  a  story  was  invented  on  the  sudden,  and 
carefully  spread  abroad  the  same  evening,  of  a  plot  to 
murder  him  ;  —  coupled  sometimes  with  the  unpopular 
names  of  Cobham  and  Ralegh  —  sometimes  with  a  vague 
rumor  of  "  certain  Jesuits  to  the  number  of  four."  This 
alarm  would  certainly  bring  all  his  friends  about  him, 
and  miglit  prepare  the  people  for  an  appeal  the  next 
morning.  And  when  this  was  thought  by  some  too  un- 
certain a  hope  to  rely  on,  a  message  arriving  opportunely 
from  the  City  to  declare  their  readiness  to  stand  by  him 
—  a  message  invented,  it  was  suspected  afterwards,  by 
some  of  his  own  party  to  quicken  his  resolutions,  but  be- 
lieved at  the  time  to  be  genuine  —  satisfied  the  doubt- 
ers and  decided  the  question  that  way. 

Early  on  Sunday  morning  his  friends  arrived  from  all 
sides  at  Essex  House  :  to  the  number  of  "  three  hundred 
gentlemen  of  prime  note."  But  while  he  was  explaining 
to  them  the  pretended  danger  which  hung  over  him,  the 
necessity  of  providing  means  of  self-defense,  and  what 
assurance  he  had  that  the  citizens  would  take  his  part, 
there  arrived  from  the  Court  (for  his  refusal  the  day  be- 
fore to  answer  the  summons  of  the  Council  had  effectu- 
ally awakened  their  suspicions)  his  old  friend  the  Lord 
Keeper,  with  three  other  of  the  lords  (all  belonging  to 
what  was  considered  as  his  own  party),  sent  by  the 
Queen  to  demand  the  cause  of  the  assembly,  to  promise 
that  if  he  had  any  complaint  to  make  it  should  be  heard, 
and  to  command  them  to  disperse.     Had  the  hearing  of 


ol2  PLAN   OF  ACTION   SUDUEXLY    CIIANGKU.        [Book  II. 

liis  complaint  been  offered  only  on  condition  of  his  going 
in  person  to  deliver  it,  there  might  have  been  some  color 
for  refusing.  But  the}'  only  asked  him  to  communicate 
it  to  them,  —  to  communicate  it  privately,  if  he  did  not 
like  to  declare  it  openly ;  promising  that  they  would 
make  a  faithful  report  of  it  to  the  Queen.  What  was  to 
be  done  now  ?  He  knew  well  enough  that  he  had  no 
complaint  to  make  that  would  bear  the  examining,  nor 
any  demand  to  prefer  which  would  even  bear  the  stating ; 
the  only  thing  he  wanted  being  that  which,  then  more 
than  ever,  it  would  have  been  ridiculous  to  ask  for,  ex- 
cept as  a  condition  imposed  by  a  conqueror.  However 
fair  the  offer  therefore,  it  was  clear  that  it  could  not  be 
accepted.  Yet  to  send  the  Lords  back  with  a  simple  re- 
fusal would  have  been  almost  as  great  a  contumacy  as  to 
detain  them.  To  let  them  go  would  only  be  to  give 
alarm  the  sooner ;  and  if  he  kejDt  them  there  they  might 
be  of  use  afterwaixls  in  making  teriuB.  So  he  decided 
to  lock  them  up  in  his  library  ;  and  leaving  them  there 
under  guard,  set  off  himself  on  the  instant  accompanied 
with  some  two  hundred  gentlemen  to  try  his  fortune  in 
the  City. 

The  plan  of  action,  as  settled  the  night  before,  was  to 
go  on  horseback,  to  arrive  at  Paul's  Cross  before  the  end 
of  the  sermon,  to  explain  the  pretended  case  to  the  Alder- 
men and  people  whom  they  should  find  assembled  there, 
and  call  on  them  for  help:  if  they  found  them  ready  to 
join,  then  to  proceed  with  the  action  ;  if  not,  to  fly  to 
some  plac(i  of  safety.  But  the  visit  of  tiie  Councillors, 
by  precipitating  the  movement,  spoiled  tlie  execution. 
'J1ie  horses  were  not  ready,  and  Essex  wanted  either  the 
patience  or  tlie  courage  to  wait  for  then).  The  party 
went  on  foot.  And  now  everything  dejjended  upon  his 
success  in  exciting  the. people  and  inducing  tliem  to  take 
his  part.  He  was  a  good  speaker,  and  always  sin-e  of 
favorable   listtniers :    and   it   was  one   of   those   cases  in 


1600-1601.]     PLAN  OF  ACTION   SUDDENLY   CHANGED.  318 

which  rhetoric  can  sometimes  do  the  work  of  an  army. 
A  Mark  Antony  might  at  that  hour  have  set  mischief 
on  horseback.  But  Essex  had  not  prepared  his  speech  ; 
and  being  no  actor,  and  having  nothing  to  say  that  could 
possibly  come  spontaneously,  he  made  no  attempt  to  ad- 
dress the  people  —  only  cried  out  as  he  passed  along  that 
his  life  was  in  danger,  — his  enemies  were  going  to  mur- 
der him.  Now  though  his  followers  were  armed  only 
with  their  swords,  yet  at  mid-day,  in  the  heart  of  a  pop- 
ulous city,  all  friends,  and  no  eneni}'  in  sight,  a  man 
with  two  hundred  swords  at  his  back  could  not  be  in  any 
immediate  danger  of  being  murdered.  If  that  was  all, 
there  was  time  to  hear  more  ;  and  the  people  in  the 
streets  only  followed,  wondering  what  might  be  the  mat- 
ter. Thus  he  passed  all  through  Cheapside  and  Grace- 
church  Street,  till  he  came  to  the  house  of  Sheriff  Smith, 
who  commanded  the  trained  bands,  and  in  whom  he 
thought  he  had  an  interest.  But  the  Sheriff,  though  a 
friend,  was  not  an  accomplice :  and  having  heard  his 
story,  withdrew  to  consult  the  Lord  Mayor.  To  hesitate 
in  such  a  case  was  to  refuse ;  for  time  could  only  make 
the  absurdity  of  the  pretext  and  the  hopelessness  of  the 
enterprise  more  apparent.  Finding  therefore  that  the 
pretense  of  danger  to  himself  from  private  enemies  (who, 
for  the  present  at  least,  could  not  possibly  hurt  him) 
brought  no  armed  men  to  his  side,  he  now  bethought 
himself  of  his  other  fiction,  —  the  pretense  of  danger  to 
the  people  from  the  public  enemy  ;  and  cried  out  that 
"•  the  crown  of  England  was  ottered  to  be  sold  to  the  In- 
fanta." How,  -where,  or  by  whom,  he  does  not  seem  to 
have  attempted  to  explain  ;  still  less  what  kind  of  action 
he  wanted  their  help  in,  with  a  view  to  prevent  the  sale. 
Nor  indeed  was  there  leisure  now  for  explanations.  For 
by  this  time  he  had  been  formally  proclaimed  traitor 
through  the  city,  and  troops  had  been  collected  to  op- 
pose him.      And  seeing  tliat  not  a  single  new  man  had 


314   OUTBREAK  AND  DEFEAT  OF  THE  INSURRECTION.    [Hook  II. 

joined  his  party,  while  those  who  came  with  him  were 
beginning  gradually  to  steal  awa}',  it  was  evident  that  all 
chance  of  success  was  gone. 

His  best  course  now  (escape  into  the  country  being 
impracticable  for  want  of  horses)  would  probably  have 
been  to  remain  where  he  was  with  as  many  men  as  he 
could  keep  about  him,  and  send  some  one  to  negotiate 
terms  of  surrender,  before  the  Government  were  fully 
aware  of  the  helplessness  of  his  position.  This  was  the 
advice  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorge  ;  who  went  to  Essex 
Plouse  with  his  authority,  released  the  imprisoned  lords, 
accompanied  them  to  the  Court,  and  tried  to  make  it 
appear  that  the  Earl's  j^ower  was  still  formidable,  and 
that  they  had  better  olfer  him  fair  terms  while  they 
could.  But  while  he  was  thus  engaged,  tlie  Earl  himself, 
upon  what  motive  must  be  left  to  conjecture  (for  the 
authorities  of  the  city  had  not  attempted  to  lay  hands 
on  him),  resolved  to  return  to  Essex  House.  Perhaps 
ho  thought  that,  if  he  could  maintain  himself  there- for  a 
few  houi's,  the  citizens  would  take  courage  and  come  to 
the  rescue.  Perhaps  (which  I  think  more  likely)  he 
remembered  that  he  had  left  in  Essex  House  a  casket  of 
papers,  which  if  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  tlie  Govern- 
ment would  be  fatal  to  his  hopes,  by  betraying  the  real 
objects  of  the  conspiracy  and  the  falsehood  of  the  pub- 
lished pretense.  But  it  is  vain  to  seek  for  rational 
motives  in  an  action  which  from  first  to  last  was  con- 
ducted in  defiance  of  reason.  Certain  it  is  that  he  did 
make  an  attempt  to  force  his  way  back  towards  Essex 
House  through  Ludgate  Ilill,  that  being  repulsed  by  tin; 
troops  collected  there  hv.  went  round  by  th(^  river,  entered 
with  som(^  fifty  ffdlowers  l>v  the  watergale,  burned  certain 
pap<'rs,  .saying  llial  "thi-\-  slionid  tell  no  tales,"  ami  pre- 
])ared  to  (h.'feml  iiinis.jt'.  IJiit  whatever  danger  lu;  may 
liave,  esca]>e(|  ])y  dcstioyiiig  lho.se  papers,  it  was  at  the 
cost  of  placing  hini.sflf  at  (In-  niei'cy  of   tlui  (iovei'nment, 


lGOO-1601.]   OUTBREAK  AND  DEFEAT  OF  TilE  IN8UKRECTI0X.    315 

who  now  knew  that  he  could  not  escape,  and  that  he 
must  within  a  few  hours  surrender  at  discretion.  The 
news  was  brought  to  the  Council  while  Gorge  Avas  nego- 
tiating, and  of  course  settled  the  question.  Essex  House 
was  invested  on  all  sides  by  an  overpowering  force,  and 
about  ten  o'clock  at  night  they  all  surrendered,  and  were 
conveyed  to  prison. 

So  little  had  the  Government  been  prepared  for  such 
an  outbreak  as  this,  that  as  late  as  eleven  o'clock  that 
morning  no  unusual  provision  had  been  made  for  defense ; 
since  which  hour  they  had  had  work  enough  on  their 
hands  in  dealing  with  the  immediate  danger.  They  had 
now  a  breathing-while  to  consider  what  it  was,  what  it 
meant,  and  what  remained  behind.  That  upwards  of  a 
hundred  noblemen  and  gentlemen  of  birth  and  quality 
had  been  gathered  together  in  London,  ready  at  an  hour's 
notice  to  join  in  open  insurrection,  and  that  they  had  had 
some  understanding  with  the  authorities  of  the  city  which 
encouraged  them  to  expect,  though  they  had  not  found, 
armed  aid  there ;  this  they  now  knew ;  but  as  yet  it  was 
all  they  knew.  What  the  conspirators  were  aiming  at, 
on  what  their  hopes  rested,  what  was  their  present  bond 
of  alliance,  what  other  allies  they  had  in  I'eserve,  —  all 
this  was  a  mystery.  Not  one  of  them  (so  far  as  the 
Government  was  aware)  had  anything  to  fear ;  or  any- 
thing to  complain  of,  worse  tlian  want  of  Court-sunshine. 
No  popular  grievance  was  in  agitation  ;  no  popular 
favorite  in  prison.  Yet  some  principle  of  combination 
there  must  have  been.  The  project  of  an  armed  insur- 
rection against  a  government  so  firmly  planted,  had  it 
been  but  the  sudden  thought  of  Saturday  night,  could 
not  have  been  knowm,  taken  up,  and  put  in  act  on  Sun- 
day morning,  by  so  many  persons  of  so  many  qualities 
coming  from  so  many  places,  unless  they  were  prepared 
by  some  previous  arrangement  or  excited  by  some  panic 
alarm.      Vet   wluvt   had   occum'd    to   create   such  alarm  ? 


316  INVHSTIGATIONS   BY  THE  COUNCIL.  [Book.  II. 

Nothing  more  than  a  civil  message,  unaccompanied  with 
force  or  threat  of  force,  requiring  Essex  to  appear  before 
the  Council !  What  clanger  could  there  be  in  that,  worth 
avoiding  by  so  desperate  a  plunge  ? 

Those  who  have  followed  my  narrative  can  already 
answer  this  question.  A  summons  to  the  Council  implied 
suspicion ;  suspicion  implied  danger  of  discovery ;  and 
discovery  would  be  as  ruinous  as  defeat.  Conscious  of 
secrets  the  disclosure  of  which  would  itself  be  fatal  to 
them,  the  leaders  of  the  conspiracy  were  ready  to  take 
alarm  upon  the  first  symptom  of  alarm  taken  by  the 
Government,  and  resort  to  sudden  flight  or  sudden  resist- 
ance as  the  less  hazardous  alternative.  But  this,  though 
known  to  us,  was  not  known  to  the  Council.  To  them 
on  Monday  morning,  the  9th  of  February,  this  only  was 
apparent :  that  there  was  some  great  undiscovered 
treason  on  foot  somewhere,  —  all  the  more  to  be  dreaded 
because  there  was  nothing  to  show  where  or  of  what 
nature.  The  first  thing  to  be  done,  after  securing  the 
prisoners  and  providing  against  riots  and  rescues,  was  to 
take  possession  of  their  houses  and  paj)ers,  to  inquire 
after  strangers  and  strange  doing.s,  to  set  a  watch  upon 
the  ports,  and  to  instruct  all  persons  in  authority  to  be 
at  their  posts  and  on  their  guard.  These  precautions 
being  taken  against  its  further  spreading,  the  next  thing 
was  to  hunt  the  tn^ason  to  its  source  ;  and  now  Bacon 
(whom  we  left  busy  with  his  private  concerns)  reappears 
upon  the  public  stage,  though  tin;  part  he  has  to  play  is 
not  for  tlic  j)r('st'nt  a  conspicuous  one. 

Since  Michaelmas,  if  he  had  any  communication  with 
Essex  (of  wliich  I  find  no  traces),  it  cannot  have  been  of 
a  conlidciiti;d  kind,  l^sscx  could  not  deal  honestly  with 
him,  :iii<l  being  lull  of  his  own  work,  proWnblv  had  no 
dealings  with  hint  at  all.  With  the  t^uccn  he  had  had 
on(!  conversation,  which  was  in  the  beginning  of  .January. 
Finrling  tli:ii  Ic  r  growing  dissatisfaction  with  l-^ssex  made 


1600-1601.]  INVESTIGATIONS  BY  THE  COUNCIL.  317 

her  look  with  suspicion  upon  one  who  had  been  so  earnest 
and  assiduous  an  intercessor  for  him,  he  requested  an  in- 
terview ;  from  whicli,  tliough  he  succeeded  in  reassuring 
her  with  regard  to  himself,  he  came  away  with  a  dct^-r- 
mination  to  meddle  no  more  in  a  business  in  which  it 
was  plain  that  he  could  do  no  good,  and  endeavor  to  put 
his  own  personal  concerns  upon  a  better  and  sounder 
footing. 

While  he  was  engaged,  as  we  have  seen,  in  making 
arrangements  for  the  payment  of  his  debts,  the  unex- 
pected outbreak  on  the  8th  of  February  summoned  all 
well-disposed  subjects  to  their  posts  ;  and  his  pose  was 
among  the  Counsel  Learned.  As  one  of  that  small  body 
of  practiced  and  confidential  servants  whose  duty  it  was 
to  fight  the  Queen's  battles  in  the  courts  of  justice,  and 
serve  her  as  a  kind  of  legal  body-guard,  he  along  with 
the  rest,  on  the  11th  of  February',  while  the  whole  affair 
was  still  an  inexplicable  and  alarming  mystery,  received 
a  commission  from  the  Council  to  assist  in  unravelling  it. 
The  quantit}^  of  work  before  them  was  so  great,  and  the 
occasion  so  urgent,  that  they  arranged  to  divide  their 
labor  as  much  as  possible,  working  in  separate  parties  of 
not  more  than  three  together ;  ^  and  they  set  to  work  ac- 
cordingly, taking  the  several  prisons  in  succession.  For 
seven  days  the  investigation  went  on  without  any  satis- 
factory result ;  but  at  last  the  real  secret  was  discovered. 
It  seems  that  the  Council  had  reserved  to  themselves  the 
examination  of  the  leaders  of  the  insurrection,  leaving 
Coke,  Bacon,  and  the  rest  to  pursue  the  inquiry  in  other 
quarters.  From  one  of  these  they  succeeded  (but  not 
before  the  18th  of  February)  in  extracting  the  secret 
(known  only  to  seven  or  eight  persons)  of  tlie  prepara- 
tory consultations  at  Drury  House.  The  others  who 
were  reported  to  liavi'  taken  |)ait  in  those  consultations 
being  thereupon    reexamined,  and  lindini;   by  the  ques- 

*  Bacon  was  assnciatort  with  Mr.  Wilhraham  and  Sir  .lorome  Bowes. 


318  INVESTIGATIONS   BY   THE  COUNCIL.  [I^ook  II. 

tions  that  the  truth  had  come  out,  were  unwilling  to 
make  their  case  worse  by  persisting  in  the  talseliood,  and 
confessed  the  whole  with  little  or  no  reserve.  Their 
several  confessions,  agreeing  as  they  did  in  all  the  main 
points,  supplied  unquestionable  proof  of  deliberate  and 
premeditated  treason  ;  and  from  that  moment  the  whole 
affair  was  intelligible. 

Delay  in  such  a  case  was  not  without  its  dangers. 
Already  one  daring  attempt  to  compel  the  liberation  of 
the  two  Earls  by  putting  the  Queen  in  fear  of  her  life 
had  been  discovered  and  prevented  ;  and  the  examination 
of  the  prisoner  had  suggested  the  possibility  of  other 
dangers  of  a  more  formidable  kind  in  the  background  ; 
for  it  appeared  that  hopes  were  in  the  wind  of  a  com- 
bination in  their  favor  between  Montjoy  and  the  rebel 
chiefs  in  Ireland.  The  best  security  against  such  move- 
ments, the  strength  of  which  lay  in  the  popular  misappre- 
hension of  the  truth,  was  to  bring  the  case  to  public  trial 
as  soon  as  po.ssible.  The  new  information  had  been  im- 
mediately communicated  to  Coke  and  Bacon,  with  in- 
structions to  spend  no  more  time  upon  the  less  conclusive 
j)arts  of  the  evidence  but  to  proceed  at  once  upon  this  ; 
and  it  was  determined  to  arraign  the  Pearls  of  Essex  and 
Southampton  the  next  day.  What  their  defense  would 
be  no  one  could  foretell.  They  iiiul  not  been  thcmst'lves 
examined,  nor  were  th(^y  aware  of  the  confessiuns  which 
liad  been  made  by  their  confederates.  It  was  necessary 
therefore  that  the  counsel  for  the  prosc'cution  siiould  be 
pn'|)ared  to  meet  them  at  all  ])()ints;  and  though  Coke 
was  the  leaden-  and  n)anager,  ]i:icon  was  of  course  to  be 
in  his  place,  leiidy  to  helj^  il  his  hel|)  wei-e  wanted.  The 
be<puil  will  show  that  for  the  iviw  and  legitimate  ends  of 
]iisliee  the  pait  he  had  to  take  was  not  unimportant. 
I)Ut  in  (iider  tu  exiiiliil  the  jdoper  elTect  and  significance 
of  it,  1  .sliail  have  to  enter  at  some  length  into  the  hist(jry 
of  the  trial. 


1600-1601.]  ARRAIGNIVIENT  OF  ESSEX.  319 

Essex  had  had  time  enough  to  consider  what  story  lie 
should  tell.  He  was  prepared  to  hear  several  acts  proved 
against  him  which  in  strict  construction  of  law  amounted 
to  treason.  When  commanded  in  the  Queen's  name  by 
the  highest  officers  in  the  hind  to  kiy  down  his  arms  and 
disperse  his  company,  he  had  made  no  attempt  to  do  so ; 
but  had  on  the  contrary  arrested  and  confined  the  mes- 
sengers. He  had  called  on  the  citizens  to  arm  and  join 
him,  after  being  formally  proclaimed  traitor,  and  sum- 
moned to  surrender  by  a  herald.  He  had  charged  the 
Queen's  forces  on  Ludgate  Hill,  not  being  himself  at- 
tacked. He  had  defended  his  house  against  the  Queen's 
lieutenant.  And  in  the  course  of  these  acts  of  resistance 
to  lawful  authority,  he  had  caused  the  death  of  some  of 
the  Queen's  subjects.  All  this  was  notorious  and  could 
not  be  disputed.  Still,  if  all  was  done  in  self-defense ;  if 
he  really  believed  that  his  life  was  in  danger,  and  that 
this  was  the  only  way  to  save  it;  if  he  durst  not  go  to 
the  Council  for  fear  of  being  shot  on  the  road  ;  durst  not 
lay  down  his  arms  or  dismiss  his  compan}'  for  fear  of 
being  attacked  in  his  house  by  armed  assassins ;  went 
into  the  city  for  help  because  he  feared  that  tiie  thive 
hundred  friends  who  were  gathered  about  him  were  not 
enough  to  defend  him  against  such  a  force  as  he  was 
threatened  with  ;  and  finally,  not  finding  the  help  lie 
sought,  attempted  to  force  his  way  to  tiie  palace  and  the 
Queen's  presence  only  as  a  place  of  refuge  from  the  sup- 
posed danger;  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  acts, 
however  the  law  might  construe  them,  had  not  either 
the  moral  or  tlie  political  character  of  treason  ;  morally, 
they  did  not  imply  the  intent;  politically,  they  did  not 
entail  the  danger.  Such  an  excuse,  if  it  could  have  been 
made  good,  might  have  niised  the  question  wlu-ther  the 
Earl  were  fit  to  go  iit  large,  but  would  have  acepiitted 
iiini  of  treason  and  rebellion.  It  had  the  advantage  of 
being  the  story  which  he  had  already  told,  —  the  motive 


320  ARRAIGNMENT  OF   ESSEX.  [Book  II. 

which  he  had  publicly  alleged  for  all  that  he  did  on  Sun- 
day ;  and  the  acts  of  that  day  taken  by  themselves  were 
so  hard  to  reconcile  with  reason  upon  any  motive,  that 
if  what  lie  did  on  Sunday  was  all  he  had  to  explain, 
it  might  perhaps  be  thought  not  absolutely  incredible. 
The  fatal  fact  which  it  left  utterly  unexplained  —  the 
fact  that  an  attack  upon  the  Court  had  been  under  con- 
sideration for  months,  and  planned  in  detail  for  weeks, 
before  any  apprehension  of  personal  danger  had  been  so 
mueli  as  rumored,  or  any  fear  shown  of  going  abroad 
without  an  armed  escort,  —  this  fact  being  known  only  to 
seven  or  eight  persons,  every  one  of  whom  was  by  the 
nature  of  the  case  bound  on  peril  of  his  life  to  keep  it 
secret,  he  trusted  was  in  no  danger  of  discovery.  He 
came  prepared  therefore  to  take  up  this  position  for  his 
defense. 

The  opening  of  the  case  by  the  Queen's  serjeant  con- 
tained nothing  to  alarm  him.  Though  the  action  was 
compared  to  that  of  Catiline,  the  acts  recited  were  oidy 
those  which  everybody  knew  of.  To  the  prayer  for  the 
Queen's  safety  with  which  the  speech  concluded  he 
cheerfully  said  Amen,  and  stiengthened  it  with  an  im- 
precation of  his  own  upon  the  souls  of  all  such  as  wished 
otherwise. 

Nor  was  he  less  jirepared  for  the  law  logic  of  Coke ; 
who,  "  suddenly  rising,"  undertook  to  prove  that  the 
intention  of  the  act  was  nothing  less  than  "  to  take  away 
the  ])rince  from  the  people."  By  tin*  law,  he  who  usurps 
the  prince's  authority  is  supposed  to  purpose;  tin;  destruc- 
tion of  the  prince ;  and  he  who  as.sembles  })ower  and 
continues  in  arras  against  the  prince's  commandment  — 
he  who  levies  forces  to  take  a  town  or  fort,  and  hold  it 
against  the  princi-  —  usurps  the  prince's  autliorifx.  All 
this  I'^sscx  had  "I'  course  expected.  And  when  the  orator 
went  on  to  descril>e  the  parlictdar  mode  of  usurpation 
which  lie  had  attempted — how  he  had  intended  to  take 


IGOO-IGOL]  ARRAIGNMENT   OF   ESSEX.  321 

'' not  a  town,  but  a  city;  not  a  city  alone,  but  London 
the  chief  city;  not  only  London,  but  the  Tower  of  Lon- 
don ;  not  only  tlie  Tower  of  London,  but  the  royal  pal- 
ace and  person  of  the  prince,  and  to  take  away  her  life," 
—  though  he  was  treading  near  dangerous  ground,  it 
might  be  hoped  that  he  was  merely  constructing  a  rhe- 
torical climax  ;  that  he  knew  only  of  the  attempt  to 
obtain  help  in  the  city,  and  that  the  ascending  steps 
and  crowning  conclusion  of  the  charge  grew  out  of  it 
by  the  ordinary  rules  of  oratory,  without  better  evidence. 
"  Wondering  and  passionate  gestures "  from  the  Earl, 
as  clause  rose  over  clause,  breaking  forth  at  the  cul- 
mination into  a  vehement  protestation  that  "he  never 
wished  harm  to  his  Sovereign  more  than  to  his  own 
soul,"  intimated  to  the  audience  how  extravagant  the 
imputation  was.  A  hint  concerning  "  a  little  black  bag, 
wherein  was  contained  the  whole  plot,"  touched  nearer ; 
but  the  contents  of  that  bag  had  been  destroyed,  and 
could  only  be  known  by  guess  or  by  report ;  any  evi- 
dence founded  upon  that  might  therefore  be  contradicted 
and  outfaced.  But  when  Coke  came  at  last  to  explain  in 
detail  what  the  plan  was  —  how  the  Earl  "  had  plotted  to 
surprise  the  Court,  and  had  disposed  of  the  several  places 
thereof  to  be  guarded  by  special  persons  about  him  :  how 
the  gate  had  been  committed  to  Sir  Christopher  Blount, 
the  hall  to  Sir  John  Davies,  the  presence  to  Sir  Cluirles 
Davers ;  while  himself  was  to  take  possession  of  her  Maj- 
esty's sacred  person,"  and  then  proceed,  among  other 
things,  to  call  a  Parliament ;  it  became  evident  that  he 
had  by  some  means  or  other  got  at  the  fatal  truth.  The 
statement  was  too  circumstantial  and  too  exactly  true  for 
a  guess.  And  when  he  wound  all  up  by  promising  to 
prove  all  this  as  clear  as  the  sun  by  the  evidence  he  had 
to  show  —  "  being  for  the  most  part  examinations  of  such 
as  were  of  the  confederacy,  all  severed  in  prison,  but 
agreeing  in  the  chief  points  of  their  confessions"  —  it 

VOL.   I.  21 


322  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  [Book  U. 

was  clear  that  if  the  promise  could  be  made  good,  the 
proposed  defense  would  not  meet  the  charge. 

Not  well  knowing  what  to  say,  yet  too  uneasy  to  re- 
main silent  any  longer,  the  Earl  begged  here  to  be  allowed 
his  turn  to  speak.  Their  memories,  he  said,  were  not 
strong  enough  to  retain  so  many  matters :  he  desired  of 
their  Lordships  that  they  might  have  leave  to  answer, 
first  to  the  accusations  in  general,  and  then  to  the  par- 
ticular evidences  as  they  should  be  delivered  :  a  request 
whicli,  thongli  very  properly  objected  to  by  Coke,  whose 
ol)jection  the  Lord  High  Steward  supported,  was  upon 
tlie  advice  of  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  granted  ;  after 
which  during  tlie  whole  course  of  the  trial  both  the 
])risoners  spoke  Avhenever  and  whatever  they  pleased ; 
with  such  results  as  we  shall  see. 

Why  Essex  should  have  desired  to  speak  at  this  junc- 
ture to  the  accusations  in  general,  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand. For  not  yet  knowing  what  he  had  to  answer,  he 
could  not  yet  answer  to  the  purpose  ;  and  what  in;  had 
to  say  by  way  of  appeal  to  the  feelings  of  the  audience 
would  have  had  a  better  effect  in  immediate  connection 
with  his  reply.  But  a  request  to  be  fairly  heard,  with  a 
brave  protestation  of  indifference  to  the  issue,  except  in 
so  far  as  it  concerned  the  fortunes  of  his  friends  and  his 
own  reputation  for  "  fidelity  and  true  allegiance  towards 
her  Majesty  "  (which  was  all  he  had  to  intei-pose  at  pres- 
ent), gave  him  for  awhile  the  sympathy  of  an  audience 
that  way  disposed.     And  (hen  tin?  business  began. 

Hefore  I  proceed  to  give  an  account  of  what  follow(>d, 
I  may  as  well  state  that  I  have;  taken  for  my  authoritv 
a  manuscript  report  of  the  trial  in  the  possession  of  John 
Tnllemache,  ICsq.,  of  Ilelmingliam  Hall,  in  SulTolk,  who 
/iindly  permitted  nui  to  take;  a  copy  of  it  for  use  in  this 
work.  'I'Ik'  (jriginal  possessoi-  a|)j)ears  to  have  been 
Lion(;l  'rollemaehe,  of  Hently,  wliosi!  nam<!  is  written  on 
the  title-page;  and  I  am  informetl  that  it  has  always  l)een 


iCOO-lGOl.]  ARRAIGXMENT  OF  ESSEX.  823 

ill  the  possession  of  the  family.  The  ToUemaclies  were 
connected  with  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and  it  is  to  him  that 
the  reporter  (though  nowhere  wanting  in  fairness  and 
intelligence)  has  evidently  paid  especial  attention :  his 
speeches  being  set  forth  at  greater  length  than  the  rest, 
and  his  behavior  throughout  the  trial  particularly  de- 
scribed ;  a  peculiarity  which  (as  the  case  for  the  de- 
fense is  to  be  found  only  in  the  Earl's  own  speeches  at 
the  trial,  of  which  we  have  no  authorized  report,  whereas 
the  case  on  behalf  of  the  Queen  is  fully  known  to  us 
through  an  official  statement  published  by  her  own 
authority)  gives  this  manuscript  the  greater  value.  As 
the  production  moreover  of  one  who  set  down  only  what 
he  heard  and  saw,  I  take  it  to  be  a  better  authority  for 
the  actual  order  of  the  proceedings  than  the  report  given 
in  the  State  Trials ;  whether  in  its  original  shape,  or  as 
reproduced  by  Mr.  Jardine  with  additions  and  variations 
in  the  "  Library  of  Entertaining  Knowledge."  For  in 
both  those  versions  there  is  evidence  of  patchwork  ;  doc- 
uments not  contained  in  the  original  manuscript  having 
been  supplied  from  elsewhere,  and  their  places  assigned 
according  to  the  compiler's  conjecture,  without  other  evi- 
dence ;  whence  arise  some  important  differences,  not  only 
in  the  substance  and  general  effect  of  many  speeches,  but 
in  the  very  order  and  connection  in  which  the  most  im- 
portant parts  of  the  evidence  were  brought  forward  :  an 
order  which  it  is  necessary  in  some  cases  to  know  before 
we  can  understand  the  true  import  of  the  defense.  On 
questions  of  this  kind  I  take  this  Tollemache  MS.  to  be 
the  more  trustworthy  guide,  and  where  my  story  differs 
from  the  received  story,  which  it  will  be  found  to  do  in 
some  not  unimportant  particulars,  it  is  to  be  understood 
that  this  manuscript  is  my  authority. 

The  order  in  which  the  evidence  was  brought  forward 
seemed  at  first  to  promise  favorably  for  the  defence.  Tlie 
action  having  been  in  fact  an  enforced  and  unpreim-di- 


324  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  [Book  II. 

tated  deviation  from  tlio  original  design,  without  refer- 
ence to  which  its  true  character  could  not  be  made  intel- 
ligible, the  most  natural  way  of  introducing  the  subject 
would  have  been  to  begin  witli  tiie  proof  of  what  had 
been  intended  and  then  to  show  what  was  actually  done. 
But  Coke  began  at  the  other  end;  opening  the  case  with 
the  proceedings  at  Essex  House  on  the  arrival  of  the 
Councillors,  and  selecting  moreover  for  his  opening  evi- 
dence the  very  worst  witness  probably  on  his  list.  Mr. 
Widdrington  of  the  North  was  one  of  the  Earl's  own 
party  and  had  followed  him  into  the  city.  He  stated  in 
his  examination,  among  other  things,  that  being  alarmed 
at  the  violence  of  the  language  which  he  heard  used  with 
respect  to  the  Councillors,  he  had  warned  the  Earl  of  it, 
who  went  away  from  him  without  giving  any  answer  ; 
after  which  "  going  down  amongst  the  company,  he  per- 
ceived amongst  them  that  order  was  given  that  if  any 
violence  was  offered  to  the  house,  or  that  the  Earl  of 
Essex  miscarried  in  London,  that  then  the  Lord  Keeper 
and  tin;  Lord  Chief  Justice  should  be  presently  killed."  ^ 
'I'hat  he  was  the  only  witness  who  could  speak  to  this 
last  point,  while  it  explains  the  value  which  Coke  at- 
tach(!d  to  this  deposition,  supplied  Essex  with  a  great  ad- 
vantage in  answering  it.  The  charge  rested  upon  the 
evidence  of  a  man  personally  implicated,  who  was  telling 
a  story  favorable  to  himself,  speaking  of  things  of  which 
there  must  have  been  many  other  witnesses,  yet  not  cor- 
roborated by  any  other,  and  who  nioreovi'r  was  not  him- 
self at  hand  to  vouch  his  words  or  aiiswei-  (luestions. 
Essex  excepted  to  it  on  these  grounds,  and  his  exceplion 
seems  to  hav(!  b(;en  allo\v('<l ;  for  nothing  niort',  was  heard 
of  this  deposition  or  this  charges;  and  a  belter  and  litter 
witness  was  immediately  brought  forward. 

1  I  r|iioli;  lii-n;  from  tlic  written  cxiimiiiiitioii  in  (lie  Slate  I'liper  Ollice.  The 
Tollemnclie  MS.  r<-j>reseiils  liiiii  as  .snyiiif?  tliiit  "order  was  lefl  hy  the  AVt;7  tliat 
they  should  be  killed  if  he  should  iiiiacarry  iit  London.  " 


1600-1601.]  ARRAIGNMENT  OF   ESSEX.  325 

Tills  was  the  Lord  Chief  Justice ;  whose  story,  very 
simply  and  quietly  told,  and  confined  to  what  he  had 
himself  seen  or  heard  and  what  the  rest  could  testify, 
fully  proved  the  EaiTs  refusal  to  disperse  his  company  or 
to  explain  his  grievance,  being  required  to  do  so  by  the 
Lord  Keeper,  and  the  forcible  detention  of  their  persons 
by  his  authority  while  he  himself  went  into  the  city. 
But  all  this  lay  within  the  lines  of  the  EarFs  proposed 
defense  ;  wlio  without  disputing  any  of  the  facts  hastened 
to  explain  tiieni  and  show  that  they  implied  no  disloy- 
alty. It  was  true  that  he  had  detained  the  Councillors ; 
but  it  was  only  for  their  own  security.  "•  Having  had 
divers  advertisements  both  the  night  before  and  that 
present  morning  of  preparations  by  his  enemies  to  assault 
him  in  his  own  house,"  he  feared  that  in  the  tumults 
which  were  likely  to  ensue  they  might  perish.  It  was 
true  that  he  had  not  dissolved  his  company  at  their  bid- 
ding ;  but  it  was  because  he  could  not  have  done  it ;  for 
just  at  that  moment  "the  people  abroad  in  the  street 
with  a  great  and  sudden  outcry  said  they  should  all  be 
slain,"  at  which  time  they  thought  their  enemies  had  be- 
set the  house.  It  vras  true  that  they  went  to  the  city 
for  protection,  not  to  the  Council ;  but  it  was  for  a  like 
reason,  — "  they  feared  they  should  be  intercepted  by 
their  enemies  to  their  uttermost  danger."  Of  his  refusal 
to  communicate  his  case  privately  to  the  Lord  Keeper, 
which  could  not  have  been  explained  by  the  same  mo- 
tive, he  does  not  appear  to  have  offered  any  explanation. 
But  the  ground  of  defense  implied  in  all  these  answers 
was  distinct  and  explicit :  Everything  had  been  done  un- 
der the  belief  that  he  was  in  immediate  danger,  not  of 
false  accusation,  not  of  detraction,  not  of  Court  malice, 
but  of  an  attack  by  armed  men.  And  since  the  clearest 
proof  that  he  had  no  reason  for  believing  such  a  thing 
was  no  proof  that  he  did  not  in  fact  believe  it,  it  is  pos- 
sible that  he  might  have  made  a  plausible  stand  upon 


326  ARRAIGNMENT  OF   ESSEX.  [Book  IU. 

that  ground,  luul  the  case  against  him  ended  tliere.  But 
what  if  it  could  be  shown  that  he  had  himself  been  mak- 
ing preparations  for  an  armed  attack  upon  the  Court 
some  weeks  before  ?  Such  prepai-ations  could  have  no 
relation  to  any  such  ahirm  as  that  to  which  he  imputed 
his  actions  on  Sunday.  Leaving  the  excuse  therefore  (for 
which  he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  prepared)  unan- 
swered at  the  moment,  Coke  proceeded  at  once  to  pro- 
duce evidence  of  the  preliminary  consultations. 

First  came  the  examination  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorge ; 
in  which  was  revealed,  among  other  things,  "the  consul- 
tation at  Drury  House,  where  was  moved  the  taking  of 
the  City,  the  Tower  and  the  Court ;  ''  and  where,  upon  a 
debate  "  how  all  or  some  of  them  might  be  sui'prised," 
Sir  John  Davis  had  "  undertaken  to  frame  a  plot  to  take 
the  Court ;  designing  Sir  Christopher  Blunt  to  make 
good  the  gate ;  Sir  John  Davis  the  hall  ;  Sir  Charles 
Da  vers  to  possess  the  great  chamber  and  to  take  hold  of 
the  guards'  halberts  and  to  keep  the  company  of  the  pres- 
ence from  issuing  forth  ;  the  Lords  themselves  to  pass 
immediately  to  her  Majesty.  But  "  (it  was  added)  "  upon 
these  motions  nothing  was  resolved,  but  referred  to  the 
Earl  of  Essex  his  own  ordering." 

These  disclosures  (the  substance  of  which  I  quote  from 
the  contemporary  report  in  preference  to  the  written  ex- 
amination, because  I  do  not  otherwise  know  how  much  of 
the  written  examination  was  read  at  this  stiige  in  the 
j>roceedings)  compelled  Essex  to  take  up  on  tiie  sudden 
a  new  position.  It  was  plain  that  such  a  e()nsnltatioM 
could  not  liiive  been  forced  upon  him  by  fear  of  being 
beset  in  his  house  or  waylaid  at  his  door.  What  account 
should  hr  give  of  it?  His  lirst  impulse  was  to  demand 
that  Sir  Ferdinando  should  be  sent  ioi\  as  implying  that 
he  would  not  conlirni  that  evidt-nce  face  U)  face,  and  hop- 
ing perhaps  that  they  would  not  venture  to  produce  him. 
But  when   he  saw  that  no  objection   was  made  and  Sir 


lGOO-1601.]  ARRAIGNMENT   OF   ESSEX.  327 

Ferdiiuuido  was  at  once  sent  for,  lie  began  to  prepare  for 
the  encounter  by  a  partial  admission  of  the  fact.  It  was 
true  that  something  of  the  kind  had  been  talked  of ;  but 
it  had  never  been  resolved  upon ;  and  if  it  had,  what  was 
it  ?  only  a  plan  for  procuring  a  personal  interview  with 
tlie  Queen,  "that  he  might  ntter  his  plaints;  which  he 
knew  were  so  just  that  her  Majesty  upon  those  allega- 
tions which  he  should  ui'ge  against  his  adversaries  (the 
Lord  Cobhara,  Mr.  Secretary,  and  Sir  Walter  Ralegh) 
■would  graciously  hear  him  "  and  consent  to  remove  them 
from  about  her.  For  it  was  not  his  private  injuries  only 
that  he  had  to  allege  against  them,  but  likewise  "  many 
foreign  practices  and  broils  in  neighbor  states"  of  which 
they  were  the  root.  And  how  desirable  it  was  that  such 
men  should  be  removed  from  the  Queen's  ear,  he  referred 
to  their  Lordsliips'  own  consideration.  "  If  I  spake  a 
wonder,"  lie  proceeded,  "  when  I  mentioned  these  mine 
enemies  should  be  removed,  I  should  need  to  strengthen 
ni}'  assertions  with  good  reasons.  But  if  many  of  your 
Lordships  here  present  have  heretofore  conceived  enough 
of  it,  I  need  not  further  at  this  present  time  give  reasons 
for  it.  But  (he  added)  when  I  and  my  company  had 
procured  access  to  her  Majesty,  we  meant  to  have  sub- 
mitted ourselves  to  the  Queen  with  paper,  and  not  to 
liave  justified  our  act  with  sword." 

Had  Essex  been  a  man  to  be  suspected  of  subtle  tactics, 
one  miglit  have  given  him  credit  here  for  a  daring  and 
skillful  stratagem.  One  might  have  thought  that,  see- 
ing the  completeness  of  the  evidence  with  which  he  was 
threatened,  and  feeling  that  his  best  chance  was  to  throw 
it  into  confusion  by  drawing  the  Court  into  hot  and  per- 
sonal discussions  away  from  the  point  at  issue,  ho  had 
promptly  resolved  to  throw  down  this  audacious  challenge, 
although  he  was  throwing  away  along  with  it  the  only 
fair  plea  for  which  his  own  admission  now  left  room.  If 
the  attack  upon  the  Court  had  been  merely  talked  of  and 


328  ARRAIGNMENT  OF   ESSEX.  [Book  11. 

never  taken  shape  as  a  formed  intention,  he  might  luive 
asked  pardon  for  the  thought  on  the  ground  that  he  had 
himself  disowned  and  condemned  it.  Whereas  in  thus 
justifying  it  before  the  Court  and  confidently  claiming 
their  sympathy  and  sanction,  whatever  criminality  there 
was  in  the  meditation  of  an  enterprise,  which  if  put  in 
act  no  man  could  doubt  to  be  treason,  that  criminality  he 
accepted  for  himself.  The  truth  probably  is  that  he 
spoke  on  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  out  of  the  abun- 
dance of  his  disUke,  without  thinking  either  of  nearer  or 
remoter  consequences.  But  whatever  may  have  been 
the  intention,  the  effect  followed.  For  before  Sir  Ferdi- 
nando  arrived,  though  he  was  no  further  off  than  the 
Gatehouse,  the  Attorney  General  and  the  prisoner  were 
already  disputing  about  matters  which  had  no  reference 
to  the  case — about  the  alleged  subornation  of  a  witness 
to  accuse  the  Earl  of  a  conspiracy  with  the  King  of 
Scots  concerning  the  succession,  and  about  a  forgery  of 
his  handwriting  by  a  scrivener  which  had  been  used  to 
extort  money;  —  and  Lord  Cobham  had  been  provoked 
to  rise  in  his  place  and  demand  an  explanation  of  the 
charges  just  thrown  out  against  himself. 

The  arrival  of  Sir  Ferdinando  put  a  stop  for  the 
moment  to  these  unseasonable  digressions,  and  brought 
them  back  to  the  business  of  the  day.  But  it  did  not 
otherwise  alter  the  case.  Face  to  face  he  simply  re- 
aftirmeil  what  he  had  stated  in  his  examination,  declar- 
ing that  it  was  all  he  knew.  Nor  was  anything  ntnv 
elicited  by  the  cross-examination,  except  a  virtual  admis- 
.sion  by  the  Earl  of  Southampton  that  such  conferences 
had  been  ]i(;ld;  and  a  declaration  by  Sir  Fi^rdinando  that 
at  the;  confereniM'  whieli  he  Jiad  attended  the  subject  was 
spoken  of  as  a  thing  whieh  ha<l  been  for  three  months  in 
consultation. 

Sir  F(M-(linando  being  withdrawn,  it  might  have  been 
expected    that   th(!   curiosity  of   the   (lourt  would  concur 


1600-1601.]  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  329 

with  the  policy  of  the  prosecution  in  caUing  for  the  evi- 
dence (ah-eady  announced  as  forthcoming)  of  the  other 
confederates  who  had  witnessed  what  passed  at  the  Drury 
House  consultations :  those  consultations  being  in  the 
highest  degree  material,  being  of  a  nature  not  to  be  es- 
tablished by  the  testimony  of  a  single  witness,  and  hav- 
ing for  all  but  a  few  of  the  Councilloi's  the  interest  of 
pel  feet  novelty.  But  it  seems  that  the  cheerful  confi- 
dence with  which  the  Earl  had  taken  his  stand  upon  the 
plea  of  personal  danger  (which  was  a  story  equall}^  new) 
had  made  its  impression  on  the  Court.  And  that  alle- 
gation having  been  neither  justified  nor  refuted,  they 
wished  before  proceeding  further  to  hear  what  reason 
he  had  for  apprehending  any  such  danger;  "for,"  said 
the  Lord  High  Steward,  "you  speak  things  without 
probability." 

This  led  to  another  digression,  which  brought  Sir 
Walter  Ralegh  on  the  stage.  For  when  the  vague  asser- 
tions with  which  the  Earl  tried  to  satisfy  them —  that  he 
knew  of  these  preparations  "  many  ways,"  —  that  he  had 
received  "  intelligence  upon  intelligence,  "  and  the  like, 
—  could  not  be  accepted  for  proof,  and  some  particular 
evidence  was  insisted  upon,  he  at  last  fell  upon  this  : 
that  Sir  Walter  Ralegh  having  desired  to  speak  with  Sir 
Ferdinando  Gorge,  they  had  met  by  appointment  on  the 
river  that  Sunday  morning  ;  and  that  Sir  Walter  had 
"  wished  him  to  come  from  them,  or  else  he  were  a  lost 
man  and  as  a  person  entering  a  sinking  ship  ;  of  which 
words"  (added  the  Earl),  "  when  we  heard  them,  what 
other  construction  could  we  make,  but  that  there  was 
souk;  imminent  mischief  intended  towards  us  ?  "  So  weak 
a  shift  might  very  well  have  been  left  to  itself,  and  ac- 
cepted only  as  an  admission  that  the  alarm  was  a  fiction 
and  an  after-thought.  But  Ralegh  desired  to  explain  ; 
and  being  sworn  (and  sworn,  for  the  Earl's  better  satis- 


830  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  [B..ok  If. 

faction,  on  the  largest  copy  of  the  Testament  ^}  proceeded 
"  with  a  settled  countenance  "  to  relate  what  had  passed. 
Being  a  friend  of  Sir  Ferdinando's,  he  had  advised  him 
to  return  to  the  country,  where  he  had  a  charge  —  [he 
was  Governor  of  Plymouth]  —  and  whither  the  Queen 
would  have  him  go.  Sir  Ferdinando  thanked  him,  but 
answered,  these  were  no  times  of  going  ;  for  the  Earl  of 
Essex  stood  upon  his  guard :  whereat  Ralegh  wondered, 
not  liaving  heard  of  it  before,  and  answered,  "  If  you  re- 
turn, then  you  are  a  lost  man."  Upon  this  Essex  only 
observed  that  "  it  was  told  them  otherwise." 

Tiiis  then  being  all  that  the  Earl  had  to  allege  in  justi- 
fication of  the  apprehension  under  which  he  professed  to 
have  been  acting,  that  question  might  now  be  considered 
as  disposed  of  ;  and  it  was  time  to  proceed  with  the  evidence 
as  to  his  real  design.  But  the  Attorney  General  himself 
seems  by  this  time  to  have  lost  the  thread  of  his  own  ar- 
gument ;  and  instead  of  producing  the  other  examinations, 
wandered  away  into  questions  concerning  the  speeches 
the  Earl  had  used  in  the  City,  the  slight  regard  he  had 
paid  to  th(;  herald,  the  religious  belief  of  his  associates, 
and  other  extraneous  or  coUateral  matter  of  that  kind  ; 
all  which  opened  to  Essex  a  large  field  for  vague  protesta- 
tions of  his  own  loyalty  and  sincerity,  and  vague  com- 
plaints of  the  courses  taken  by  the  Government  —  courses 
which  (he  assured  the  Court)  "had  made  an  honorable, 
grave,  and  wise  Councillor  oftentimes  wish  himself  dead  ;" 
wherein  an  incidental  allusion  to  an  assault  whieh  had 
been  made  upon  the  ICari  of  Southampton  called  foi'th 
Loi-d  Grey  to  defend  himself,  and  led  to  a  livfly  j>assii<j;e 
of  sharp  words  betwc^en  those  two.  Whi(;h  int(Mrn|)tion 
V)eing  over,  Cok(!  took  u[)  the   word  again  ;  and  still  for- 

1  "And  lii^ri!  Sir  W.  K.ilrfjli  dfjsired  on  his  kiiocs  lo  satisfy  for  llial  i)f)it)t;  and 
liavinf^  Icavf;  was  rf-adv  to  swi'ur,  when  vehoinoiilly  tho  Lord  of  l'',ssex  cried 
out,  '  F-ook  what  l)ook  it  is  he  swears  on  ! '  And  tlie  hook  l)ein;;  in  dtcinio- 
Bcxto,  or  the  h'asl  volunio  was  h)oked  in  and  clian^i'd  lo  a  hook  in  folio  of  thu 
larfjesf  size." 


1600-1601.]  ARRAIGNMENT  OF   KSSEX.  331 

getting  that  lie  had  left  the  main  point  only  half  proved, 
called  on  the  Earl  to  justify  his  announcement  to  the  peo- 
ple in  the  City  that  the  state  was  sold  to  the  Spaniards 
by  Mr.  Secretary  :  a  demand  which  led  the  way  to  the 
longest,  the  liveliest,  the  most  exciting,  and  also  I  must 
add  the  most  irrelevant  digression  that  had  yet  been 
thrown  in  the  way  of  the  rational  investigation  of  the 
question  on  which  the  Court  was  assembled  to  decide. 
Essex  declared  that  he  had  had  advertisement  of  this 
practice  "  many  ways ; "  but  the  one  fact  which  he 
offered  by  way  of  evidence  was  this  :  himself  and  South- 
ampton "had  both  been  informed  how  Secretary  Cecil 
had  maintained  to  one  of  his  fellow-Councillors  the  title 
of  the  Infanta  to  be  the  best  after  her  iMajesty's  death  — 
and  in  a  manner  before."  For  any  bearing  which  this 
had  upon  the  case  under  trial,  it  might  very  well  have 
been  answered — What  if  he  did?  But  Cecil  could 
hardly  be  expected  to  rest  quietly  under  an  imputation 
which,  however  impertinent  to  the  case,  might  if  allowed 
to  pass  uncontradicted  be  very  injurious  to  liimself. 
"  Coming  forth  from  behind  the  hancrino:  where  he 
had  stood,  he  fell  on  his  knees  and  humbly  besought  the 
Lord  High  Steward  that  he  might  be  suffered  to  break 
course  and  clear  himself  of  this  slander."  Whereupon 
followed  a  long  and  lively  interlude,  extremely  interest- 
ing no  doubt  to  the  audience,  and  narrated  very  well  and 
fully  by  our  reporter,  but  of  which  I  must  content  myself 
with  stating  the  conclusion  :  which  was,  that  the  name  of 
their  informant  being  demanded,  and  Sir  William  KnoUys 
being  at  last  after  much  hesitation  and  many  protests 
named  as  the  authority,  and  thereupon  at  Cecil's  earnest 
request  sent  for  and  questioned,  it  turned  out  that  Cecil 
had  indeed  once  mentioned  to  him,  and  offered  to  show  him, 
a  book  wherein  that  title  was  preferred  before  any  other. 
A.nd  this  was  all  the  foundation  for  that  story,  on  the 
strength  of  which  the  citizens  of  London  had  been   ex- 


832  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  [Book  II. 

liDi-ted  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Government  in  de- 
fense of  the  kingdom. 

By  this  time  the  argument  had  drifted  so  far  away 
from  the  point  that  it  must  have  been  difficult  for  a  lis- 
tener to  remember  wliat  it  was  that  the  prisoners  were 
charged  with,  or  how  nnich  of  the  charge  had  been  proved. 
A  nd  Coke,  who  was  all  this  time  the  sole  speaker  on  behalf 
of  the  Crown,  was  still  following  each  fresh  topic  that  rose 
before  him,  without  the  sign  of  an  intention  or  the  intima- 
tion of  a  wish  to  return  to  the  main  question  and  reform  the 
broken  ranks  of  his  evidence.  Luckily  he  seems  to  have 
been  now  at  a  loss  what  point  to  take  next,  and  the  pause 
gave  Bacon  an  opportunity  of  rising.  It  can  hardly  have 
been  in  pursuance  of  previous  arrangements  ;  for  though 
it  was  customary  in  those  days  to  distribute  the  evidence 
into  parts  and  to  assign  several  parts  to  several  counsel, 
there  had  been  no  appearance  as  yet  of  any  part  being 
concluded.  It  is  probable  that  tiie  course  of  the  trial  iiad 
upset  previous  arrangements  and  confused  the  parts. 
At  any  rate  so  it  was,  however  it  came  to  pass,  that 
when  Cecil  and  Essex  had  at  last  finished  their  expostula- 
tion and  parted  with  charitable  prayers  each  that  the 
other  might  be  forgiven,  "  Then  (says  our  reporter)  Mr. 
Bacon  entered  into  a  speech  much  after  this  fashion." 

"•In  speaking  of  this  late  and  horrible  rebellion  which 
hath  been  in  the  eyes  and  ears  of  all  men,  I  shall  save 
myself  much  labor  in  opening  and  enforcing  the  points 
thereof,  insomuch  as  I  speak  not  before  a  country  jury  of 
ignorant  num,  but  before  a  most  honorable  assembly  of 
the  greatest  Peers  of  the  land,  whose  wisdoms  conceive 
far  more  than  my  tongue  can  utter;  yet  with  your  gra- 
cious and  honoraijlf!  favors  I  will  presupie,  if  not  for  in- 
form:ition  of  your  Honors,  yet  for  the  dis(;harge  of  my 
duty,  to  say  thus  much.  No  man  can  b(^  ignorant  that 
knows  matters  of  foruK^r  ages,  and  all  history  makes  it 
plain,  that  there  was  never  any  traitor  heard  of  that  durst 


lOOO-lGOl.]  AHHAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  333 

directlj'  attempt  the  seat  of  his  liege  prince,  but  he  always 
colored  his  practices  with  some  plausible  pretense.  For 
God  hath  imprinted  such  a  majesty  in  the  face  of  a  prince 
that  no  private  man  dare  approach  the  person  of  his  sov- 
ereign with  a  traitorous  intent.  And,  therefore,  they  run 
another  side  course,  oblique  et  d  latere ;  some  to  reform 
corruptions  of  the  state  and  religion ;  some  to  reduce  the 
ancient  liberties  and  customs  pretended  to  be  lost  and 
worn  out ;  some  to  remove  those  persons  that  being  in 
high  places  make  themselves  subject  to  envy  ;  but  all  of 
them  aim  at  the  overthrow  of  the  state  and  destruction  of 
the  present  rulers.  And  this  likewise  is  the  use  of  those 
that  work  mischief  of  another  quality ;  as  Cain,  that  first 
murderer,  took  up  an  excuse  for  his  fact,  shaming  to  out- 
face it  with  irapudency.  Thus  the  Earl  made  his  color 
the  severing  some  great  men  and  councillors  from  her 
Majesty's  favor,  and  the  fear  he  stood  in  of  his  pretended 
enemies  lest  they  should  murder  him  in  his  house.  There- 
fore he  saith  he  was  compelled  to  fly  into  the  city  for 
succor  and  assistance;  not  much  unlike  Pisistratus,  of 
whom  it  was  so  anciently  written  how  he  gashed  and 
wounded  himself  and  in  that  sort  ran  crying  into  Athens 
that  his  life  was  sought  and  like  to  have  been  taken  away; 
thinking  to  have  moved  the  people  to  have  pitied  him 
and  taken  his  part,  by  such  counterfeited  harm  and  dan- 
ger; whereas  his  aim  and  drift  was  to  take  the  govern- 
ment of  the  city  into  his  hands,  and  alter  the  form 
thereof.  With  like  pretenses  of  dangers  and  assaults  the 
Earl  of  Essex  entered  the  city  of  London  and  passed 
through  the  bowels  thereof,  blanching  rumors  that  he 
should  have  been  murdered  and  that  the  state  was  sold ; 
whereas  he  had  no  such  enemies,  no  such  dangers  ;  per- 
suading themselves  that  if  they  could  prevail,  all  would 
have  done  well.  But  now  magna  scelera  terminantur  in 
hceresin ;  for  you,  my  Lord,  should  know  that  though 
princes  give  their  subjects   cause   of  discontent,  though 


334  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  [B.m.k  II. 

they  take  away  the  honors  they  have  heaped  upon  them, 
though  they  bring  them  to  a  lower  estate  than  they 
raised  them  from,  yet  ouglit  they  not  to  be  so  forgetful 
of  their  allegiance  that  they  should  enter  into  any  un- 
dutiful  act,  much  less  upon  rebellion,  as  you,  my  Lord, 
have  done.  All  whatsoever  you  have  or  can  say  in  an- 
swer hereof  are  but  shadows.  And  therefore  methinks  it 
were  best  for  you  to  confess,  not  to  justify." 

The  Pearl's  attempts  to  draw  the  Court  away  from  the 
point  by  interposing  personal  charges  and  exciting  per- 
sonal altercations  had  succeeded  so  well  hitherto,  that 
when  this  speech  of  Bacon's  threatened  to  bring  them 
back  to  the  real  question  and  prepare  them  to  hear  the 
rest  of  the  evidence,  he  tried  again  to  effect  a  diversion 
in  the  same  way.  If  the  reader  remembers  my  account 
of  the  letters  drawn  up  by  Bacon  a  few  months  before, 
one  as  from  his  brother  to  the  Earl,  the  other  as  from 
the  Earl  in  answer  (see  above,  p.  302),  he  ri'niembers 
likewise  the  occasion  and  purpose  of  them  ;  and  can  judge 
of  the  pertinency  and  propriety  of  the  retort  with  which 
the  Earl  now  replied  upon  him. 

"  To  answer  Mr.  Bacon's  speech  at  once,"  said  he,  "  I 
Bay  thus  much  ;  and  call  forth  Mr.  P>acon  against  Mr. 
Bacon.  You  are  then  to  know  that  Mr.  Francis  Bacon 
hath  written  two  letters,  the;  one  of  which  hath  been 
artihcially  framed  in  my  name,  after  he  had  framed  the 
other  in  Mr.  Anthony  Bacon's  nanu;  to  provoke  me.  In 
th<'  latter  of  theses  two,  lie  lays  down  the  grounds  of  my 
discontentment  and  the  reasons  I  pretend  against  mine 
en(!niies,  pleading  as  orderly  for  me  as  I  could  do  myself. 
Much  such  matter  it  contains  as  my  sister  tht^  Lady  Rich 
lu'i-  letter,  uj)on  whi(;h  shi;  was  called  before  your  Honors. 
It  those  rejiaons  were  tluni  just  and  true,  not  counterfeit, 
how  can  it  be  that  now  my  pretenses  are  false  and  in- 
jurious? For  then  Mr.  liacon  joined  with  uk^  in  mine 
opinion,  and  pointed  out  tliose  to  be  mine  enemits  and  to 


lGOO-1601.]  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  3 "5 

hold  ine  in  disgrace  with  her  INIajesty,  whom  he  seems 
now  to  clear  of  such  mind  towards  me ;  and  therefore  I 
leave  the  truth  of  what  I  say  and  he  opposeth  unto  your 
Lordships'  indifferent  considerations." 

Another  report  represents  him  as  proclaiming  the  fact 
that  these  letters  were  written  for  the  purpose  of  being 
shown  to  the  Queen.  And  certainly  a  stroke  better 
aimed,  if  the  object  was  to  introduce  another  angry  and 
irrevelant  altercation,  —  worse,  if  to  offer  a  serious  an- 
swer to  Bacon's  argument,  —  could  not  well  have  been  de- 
vised. But  Bacon  was  not  to  be  so  seduced.  He  merely 
replied  that  "  those  letters,  if  they  were  there,  would  not 
blush  to  be  seen  for  anything  contained  in  them  ;  and 
that  he  had  spent  more  time  in  vain  in  studying  how  to 
make  the  Earl  a  good  servant  to  the  Queen  and  state, 
than  he  had  done  in  anything  else  ; "  and  then  sitting 
down  allowed  the  business  to  proceed  ;  which  was  to 
produce  the  rest  of  the  evidence,  first  as  to  the  prepar- 
atory consultations  at  Drury  House,  and  then  as  to  the 
proceedings  of  Sunday.  Whether  this  was  now  brought 
in  upon  Bacon's  motion,  the  report  does  not  enable  me 
to  say  ;  but  it  is  represented  as  immediately  following  his 
speech.  So  there  was  some  prospect  at  last  of  seeing  the 
charges  in  the  indictment  proved  as  well  as  disputed 
upon  ;  and  though  the  case  was  not  destined  to  proceed 
in  an  orderly  manner  to  the  end,  a  considerable  step  was 
certainly  made  at  this  point. 

I  need  not  recount  the  particulars  of  the  evidence, 
but  as  Bacon  had  occasion  to  interpose  once  more  before 
the  trial  concluded,  I  must  follow  the  course  of  it  a  little 
further. 

The  confessions  of  Davers,  Davis,  and  Blunt,  the  three 
remaining  witnesses  who  could  speak  to  the  consultations 
at  Drury  House,  were  now  read,  and  fully  confirmed  the 
evidence  already  given  by  Gorge.  Nor  did  any  material 
interruption  occur,  until  Ess(>x  began  in  attestation  of  his 


336  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  [Book  II. 

innocence  to  appeal  to  his  nightly  practices  of  devotion  ; 
upon  which  Coke  charging  him  with  "  hypocrisy  in  relig- 
ion "  and  "  countenancing  religious  men  of  all  sorts," — 
a  chai'ge  which  even  if  true  formed  no  part  of  the  case,  — 
gave  him  another  occasion  —  the  best  he  had  yet  had  —  of 
producing  a  diversion  in  his  own  favor.  The  imputation 
was  not  only  irrevelant,  but  unjust.  His  religious  belief, 
unlike  his  loyalty,  was  simple,  earnest,  and  unaffected ; 
too  earnest  (in  a  large  and  open  understanding)  to  con- 
sist with  the  sectarian  prejudices  which  refused  to  believe 
in  the  sincerity  either  of  Papists  on  one  side  or  Puritans 
on  the  other.  In  creed,  his  personal  sympathy  was  prob- 
ably most  with  the  Puritans ;  nor  had  he  ever  shown 
the  least  personal  inclination  towards  Popery.  But  I 
doubt  whether  in  all  his  writings  a  single  sentence  can  be 
found  implying  an  illiberal  depreciation  of  any  religious 
party.  It  was  too  serious  a  subject  with  him  to  be  trifled 
or  trafficked  with.  And  if  "in  his  usual  talk  he  was 
wont  to  say  that  he  liked  not  that  any  man  should  be 
troubled  for  his  religion,"  it  is  not  necessary  now  to  ob- 
serve that  respect  for  the  riglits  of  conscience  in  other 
men  does  not  imply  any  want  of  conscience  in  a  man's 
self.  The  tone  in  which  he  replied  to  this  charge,  and 
solemnly  aflBrmed  the  sincerity  of  his  faith  in  the  religion 
which  he  had  all  his  life  professed,  contrasted  strangely 
witli  the  weakness  and  inconsistency  of  his  answers  upon 
the  questions  really  at  issue,  and  made  a  corresponding 
impression  on  the  Court;  insomuch  that  when  Coke  of- 
fered to  reply  and  make  good  his  accnisation,  they  refused 
to  hear  hiui.  Ami  tlnTcupon  the  cases  was  once  more  re- 
sumed and  the  evith'ncc  allowed  to  go  on. 

The  depositions  which  were  now  read  concerning  the 
proceedings  in  the  city  on  Sunday  brought  the  case  home 
to  tlio  Karl  of  Southampton,  w]u)m  the  evidence  had 
hitherto  t(Mich(;d  only  inridciitally  and  indirectly  ;  and 
brought  out  his  answer  to  the  charges  in  gcMicral  ;  the 


1600-lGOl.]  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  337 

substance  of  which  was,  that  the  object  of  the  consulta- 
tions at  Drui'}^  House  was  merely  to  procure  for  Essex 
the  means  of  speaking  to  the  Queen ;  that  the  action 
which  had  been  suggested  with  that  view,  whether  trea- 
sonable or  not,  had  never  taken  place,  had  not  even  been 
resolved  upon  ;  while  the  action  which  had  taken  place 
was,  so  far  as  he  understood  and  was  concerned  in  it,  no 
treason,  but  an  act  of  self-defense  in  a  private  quarrel. 
He  declared  that  he  never  heard  either  the  message  of 
the  Lord  Keeper  or  the  proclamation  of  the  herald  ;  and 
in  spite  of  several  interruptions  from  Coke,  who  tried  to 
fasten  upon  him  the  responsibility  for  what  had  passed 
in  Essex  House,  succeeded  in  telling  a  story  plausible 
enough  to  make  the  Peers  hesitate  and  require  the  opin- 
ion of  the  Judges  upon  the  point  in  law.  His  case  was 
no  doubt  very  different  from  that  of  his  fellow-prison- 
ers;  for  he  might  possibly  have  believed  Essex's  story 
about  his  personal  danger,  though  it  was  not  possible  to 
suppose  that  Essex  beheved  it  himself.  The  point  on 
which  they  desired  to  be  satisfied  was  this :  "  Whether 
the  rising  to  go  to  Court  with  such  a  company  only  to 
present  my  Lord  of  Essex  his  complaints,  without  all 
manner  of  purpose  of  violence  to  the  person  of  her  ]\Iaj- 
esty  or  any  other,  —  whether  this  were  treason  ?  "  The 
Judges  gave  opinion  that  it  was.  And  there  the  case 
might  have  been  allowed  to  rest.  For  it  is  quite  con- 
ceivable that  the  conspirators  did  in  fact  expect  all  dif- 
ficulties to  vanish  before  them,  and  did  not  intend  to 
hurt  anybody,  otherwise  than  in  the  legal  construction, 
which  supposes  to  be  intended  whatever  a  reasonable 
man  might  expect  to  follow.  Coke,  however,  was  not 
satisfied  to  stop  there.  They  must  in  their  consultations 
have  counted  on  resistance,  must  have  foreseen  that  in 
case  of  resistance  there  would  be  violence,  must  there- 
fore have  intended  violence.  "  The  Earl  of  Essex  replied 
that  the  act  was  to  be  judged  by  the  intent  in  coiisoienco. 

VOL.  I.  22 


338  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  ESSEX.  [Book  II. 

*  Nay,'  said  Mr.  Attorney,  '  our  law  judgeth  the  intent 
by  the  overt  act.'  '  Well,'  said  the  Earl,  'plead  you  law 
and  we  will  plead  conscience.'  " 

To  conduct  an  argument  cleaily  in  dialogue,  which 
appears  to  have  been  Coke's  favorite  form,  is  never  easy 
unless  the  same  ]:)erson  manages  both  parts ;  least  of  all 
before  a  popular  audience  ;  which  in  this  case  it  was  im- 
portant to  satisfy,  as  well  as  the  law  and  the  lawyers. 
Hence  it  was  again  becoming  necessary  to  remind  the 
Court  how  the  case  really  stood,  what  was  the  real  ac- 
cusation and  what  the  defense  ;  for  more  than  half  the 
charges  and  replies  which  they  had  been  listening  to  all 
the  day  lay  quite  outside  the  case  ;  and  to  perform  this 
office  Bacon,  with  or  without  the  permission  of  his  leader, 
now  rose  once  more,  and  spoke  to  this  effect :  — 

"  I  have  never  yet  seen  in  any  case  such  favor  shown 
to  any  prisoner  ;  so  many  digressions,  such  delivering  of 
evidence  by  fractions,  and  so  silly  a  defense  of  such  great 
and  notorious  treasons.  May  it  please  your  Grace,  you 
have  seen  how  weakly  he  hath  shadowed  his  purpose  and 
how  slenderly  he  hath  answered  the  objections  against 
him.  But,  my  Lord,  I  doubt  the  variety  of  matters  and 
the  many  digressions  may  minister  occasion  of  forgetful- 
ness,  and  may  have  severed  the  judgments  of  the  Lords  ; 
and  therefore  I  hold  it  necessary  briefly  to  recite  the 
Judges'  opinions." 

That  being  done,  he  proceeded  to  this  effect :  — 

"  Now  put  the  case  that  the  Earl  of  E.ssex's  intent 
were,  as  he  would  have  it  bcrMU'cd,  to  go  only  as  a  suppli- 
ant to  her  Majesty.  Shall  (hrii-  petitions  be  presented 
by  armed  |)(;titi()n(;rs  ?  This  must  needs  bring  loss  of  lib- 
erty to  tin;  i)rinc(>.  Neither  is  it  any  point  of  law,  as  my 
Lord  of  Southampton  would  have  it  believed,  that  con- 
dtMuns  th(;m  of  treason.^     To  take  secret  counsel,  to  exe- 

'  The  MS.  Iwis,  that  nnOiinij  coiulemna  Ihcin  of  the  treason.     Anollicr  report 
adds  "  but  it  is  apparent  in  common  sense  :  "  rightly,  I  should  think. 


1600-1601.]  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  339 

cute  it,  to  run  together  in  numbers  armed  with  weapons, 
what  can  be  the  excuse  ?  Warned  by  the  Lord  Keeper, 
by  a  herald,  and  yet  persist !  Will  any  shnple  man  take 
this  to  be  less  than  treason  ?  " 

The  Earl  of  Essex  answered  that  if  he  had  purposed 
anything  against  others  than  those  his  private  enemies, 
he  would  not  have  stirred  with  so  slender  a  company. 
Whereunto  Mr.  Bacon  answered  :  — 

''  It  was  not  the  company  you  carried  with  you,  but 
the  assistance  which  you  hoped  for  in  the  City  which  you 
trusted  unto.  The  Duke  of  Guise  thrust  himself  into 
the  streets  of  Paris  on  the  day  of  the  Barricados  in  his 
doublet  and  hose,  attended  only  with  eight  gentlemen, 
and  found  that  help  in  the  city  which  (thanks  be  to  God) 
you  failed  of  here.  And  what  followed  ?  The  King 
was  forced  to  put  himself  into  a  pilgrim's  weeds  and  in 
that  disguise  to  steal  away  to  scape  their  fury.  Even 
such  was  my  Lord's  confidence  too,  and  his  pretense  the 
same,  an  all-hail  and  a  kiss  to  the  City.  But  the  end 
was  treason,  as  hath  been  sufficiently  proved.  But  when 
he  had  once  delivered  and  engaged  himself  so  far  into 
that  which  the  shallowness  of  his  conceit  could  not  ac- 
complish as  he  expected,  the  Queen  for  her  defense  tak- 
ing arms  against  him,  he  was  glad  to  yield  himself ;  and 
thinking  to  color  his  practices  turned  his  pretexts,  and 
alleged  the  occasion  thereof  to  proceed  from  a  private 
quarrel." 

"  To  this  "  (adds  the  repoi'ter)  "  the  Earl  answered 
little."  Nor  was  anything  said  afterwai'ds  by  either  of 
the  prisoners,  either  in  the  thrust  -  and  -  parry  dialogue 
with  Coke  that  ft)llowed,  or  when  they  spoke  at  large  to 
the  question  why  judgment  should  not  be  pronounced, 
which  at  all  altered  the  complexion  of  the  case.  Tliey 
were  both  found  guilty,  and  sentence  was  passed  in  the 
usual  form. 

It  would  be  rash,  perhaps,  to  criticise  the  management 


340  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  CASE.  [Book  II. 

of  a  trial  like  this  upon  the  evidence  of  casual  and  unau- 
thorized reports.  There  was  in  those  days  no  regular 
system  of  reporting ;  and  though  many  detailed  narra- 
tives of  the  proceedings  were  written  and  circulated,  it 
is  evident  upon  comparison  that  the  best  of  them  are  far 
from  perfect.  Each  writer  had  his  own  points  of  interest, 
his  own  periods  of  attention  and  inattention,  of  physical 
activity  and  exhaustion.  Imperfect  notes  were  probably 
completed  afterwards  from  imj)erfect  recollection  ;  and 
the  omission  or  misunderstanding  of  a  few  words  at  a 
critical  juncture  may  give  a  false  aspect  to  all  that  fol- 
lows. From  any  and  from  all  of  them,  however,  one  fact 
may  be  surely  infei'red,  that  the  case  was  very  badly 
managed :  most  of  the  time  having  been  occupied  in  the 
discussion  of  points  immaterial  or  irrelevant,  raised  one 
after  another  in  the  most  desultory  and  disorderlj'^  man- 
ner, and  followed  on  both  sides  in  apparent  forgetfulness 
of  tlie  question  really  at  issue.  In  part,  no  doubt,  this 
was  owing  to  the  injudicious  indulgence  of  the  Court  in 
allowing  the  prisoners  not  only  to  say  what  they  liked,' 
but  to  interrupt  the  evidence  whenever  and  to  enter  into 
personal  altercations  with  whom  they  liked  :  an  irregu- 
larity for  which  Coke  was  not  responsible.  But  the  error 
was  much  aggravated  by  an  infirmity  of  his  OAvn.  Inter- 
ruptions by  the  prisoners  would  have  been  comparatively 
harmless,  if  the  Counsel  could  liave  been  content  merely 
to  wait  till  they  had  done  speaking,  and  then  to  go  on 
with  their  own  story.  But  Coke  could  not  resist  the 
temptation  of  replying  and  disputing;  and  not  being 
careful  to  confine  his  charges  within  Mic  limits  of  his 
proofs,  he  allowed  himself  not  only  to  bu  led  away  from 
the  point  which  it  was  his  business  to  prove  and  which 
he  could  prove,  but  to  be  drawn  into  discussions  in  which 
lie  did  not  sttem  always  to  have  tln^  best  of  it.  The  re- 
sult of  all  wlii<;h  was  that  the  true  aspect  of  (lie  case  — 
H  case  of  treason  as  cleai-ly  proved,  as  coinplctelv  without 


1600-1601.]    CHAMBERLAIN'S  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  TPJAL.  341 

excuse,  and  as  dangerous,  as  ever  went  into  a  court  of 
justice  —  was  so  weakly  and  confusedly  presented  to 
people's  minds,  that  according  to  Camden  "  some  called 
it  a  fear,  others  an  error ;  they  which  censured  it  more 
hardly  termed  it  an  obstinate  impatience  and  desire  of 
revenge,  and  such  as  censured  it  most  heavily  called  it  an 
inconsiderate  rashness  ;  and  to  this  day  few  there  are  who 
have  thought  it  a  capital  crime." 

The  fact  probably  is,  that  those  who  thought  so  held 
their  tongues  ;  for  why  should  any  man  have  cared  to 
make  himself  odious  for  the  sake  of  correcting  the  popu- 
lar judgment  of  a  crime  which  had  paid  its  penalty  ?  To 
men  of  understanding,  however,  who  were  present,  the 
case,  with  all  its  disadvantages  in  the  setting  forth,  could 
wear  but  one  aspect :  and  it  may  be  worth  while  to  add 
a  summary  account  of  the  trial  by  a  very  intelligent  and 
quite  disengaged  and  dispassionate  spectator,  written  a 
few  days  after. 

"The  19th  hereof,"  writes  John  Chamberlaia  to  Dudley 
Carleton,  on  the  24th  of  February,  lGOO-1,  "the  Pearls  of 
Essex  and  Southampton  were  arraigned  at  Westminster  before 
the  Lord  Treasurer,  Lord  High  Steward  of  England  for  that 
day,  and  twenty-five  of  their  peers,  whereof  were  nine  Earls 
and  sixteen  Barons.  The  only  matters  objected  were  his  prac- 
tice to  surprise  the  Court,  his  coming  in  arms  into  London  to 
raise  rebellion,  and  the  defending  his  house  against  the  Queen's 
forces.  To  the  two  latter  he  answered  that  he  was  drawn  for 
the  safety  of  his  life :  to  the  former  that  it  was  a  matter  only  in 
consultation  and  not  resolved  upon;  and  if  it  had  taken  effect  it 
was  only  to  prostrate  himself  at  her  Majesty's  feet  and  there 
manifest  such  matter  against  his  enemies  as  should  make  them 
odious  and  remove  them  from  about  her  person,  and  recall  him 
to  her  former  favor.  This  was  the  sum  of  his  answer  ;  but  de- 
livered with  such  bravery  and  so  many  words,  that  a  man  might 
easily  perceive  that  as  he  had  ever  lived  popularly,  so  his  chief 
care  was  to  leave  a  good  opinion  in  the  people's  minds  now  at 
parting.     But  the  worst  of  all  was  his  many  and  loud  protesta- 


342  CHAMBERLAIN'S  ACCOUNT   OF  THE  TRIAL.      [Booic  H. 

tions  of  his  faith  and  loyaUy  to  the  Queeu  and  state,  which  uo 
doubt  caught  and  carried  away  a  great  part  of  the  hearers  ;  but 
I  cannot  be  so  easily  led  to  believe  protestations  (thouglx  never 
so  deep)  against  manifest  proof.  .... 

"  At  his  coming  to  the  bar  his  countenance  was  somewhat  un- 
settled; but  after  he  was  once  in,  I  assure  you  I  never  saw  any 
go  tlirough  with  such  boldness,  and  show  of  resolution  and  con- 
temj)!  of  death :  but  whether  this  courage  Avere  borrowed  and 
put  on  for  the  time,  or  natural,  it  were  hard  to  judge.  But  I 
hear  he  begins  to  relent,  and  among  otlier  faults  to  be  sorry  for 
his  arrogant  (or  rather  as  Mr.  Secretaiy  well  termed  it  to  his 
face),  his  impudent  behavior  at  his  arraignment;  and,  which  is 
mere,  to  lay  open  the  whole  plot  and  to  appeach  divers  not  yet 
called  in  question.  His  execution  was  expected  on  Saturday, 
then  yesterday,  now  to-morrow,  or  on  Thursday.  Most  of  the 
Council  have  been  with  him  these  three  or  four  days  together. 
The  P^arl  of  Southampton  spake  very  well  (but  methought 
somewhat  too  much,  as  well  as  the  other),  and,  as  a  man  that 
would  fain  live,  pleaded  hard  to  acquit  himself;  but  all  in  vain, 
for  it  could  not  be:  whereupon  he  descended  to  entreaty  and 
moved  great  commiseration,  and  though  he  were  generally  well 
liked,  yet  methought  he  was  somewhat  too  low  and  submiss,  and 
seemed  too  loath  to  die  before  a  proud  enemy."  ^ 

*  S.  P.  O.  The  whole  series  of  Chamberlain's  letters  during  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth  lias  recently  been  printed  by  the  Camden  Society;  carefully  and  well 
edited  by  the  late  Miss  Williams.  I  wish  some  one  would  go  on  and  edit  the 
rest  in  the  same  style;  for  the  copies  contained  in  the  Court  ami  Times  of. lames 
/.,  "edited  by  the  author  of  the  Memoirs  of  Sojihid,  Dorothea,  etc.,"  are  so  full 
of  all  kinds  of  blunders,  that  to  me  the  book  is  of  no  use  except  for  collation. 
I  can  correct  the  te.xt  in  less  time  than  I  could  make  a  fresh  transcript;  but  I 
could  not  (J note  anything  from  it  without  previous  reference  either  to  the  origi- 
nals or  to  Dr.  Birch's  copieB- 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A.  D.  1601. — FEBRUAIIY   TO   APfllL.      ^TAT.   40. 

Those  who  make  light  of  the  crime  of  which  Essex 
was  found  guilty  make  him  guilty  of  one  much  worse. 
What  Chamberlain  had  heard  was  true  :  he  had  begun 
not  only  to  confess  for  himself  but  "  to  appeach  divers 
not  yet  called  in  question."  The  precise  import  and 
spirit  of  his  confessions  indeed  we  shall  never  know  :  for 
only  fragments  of  them  were  divulged  at  the  time,  and 
neither  the  original  record  nor  any  copy  of  it  is  now  to 
be  found.  Enough,  however,  has  transpired  to  show  that 
he  not  only  admitted  his  own  guilt  fully  and  freely,  but 
disclosed  and  proclaimed  that  of  his  associates  ;  nor  of 
those  alone  whose  confessions  had  been  fatal  to  himself, 
but  of  others  likewise  who  had  kept  his  secrets  only  too 
faithfully  and  would  else  have  passed  unsuspected. 

Of  the  occasion  of  this  change  two  different  stories  are 
told.  Sir  Robert  Cecil  seems  to  have  taken  it  for  an  act 
of  retaliation.  "  Before  he  went  out  of  the  hall,"  says 
he,  writing  to  Winwood  on  the  7th  of  March,  "  when  he 
saw  himself  condemned,  and  found  that  Sir  John  Davis, 
Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  Sir  Christopher  Blount,  and  Sir 
Charles  Davers,  had  confessed  all  the  conferences  that 
were  held  at  Drury  House  by  his  direction  for  surprising 
the  Queen  and  the  Tower  of  London,  he  then  broke  out 
to  divers  gentlemen  that  attended  him  in  the  Hall,  that 
his  confederates  who  had  now  accused  him  had  been  prin- 
cipal inciters  of  him  and  not  he  of  them,  ever  since 
August  last,  to  work  his  access  to  the  Queen  with  force. 
And  when  he  was  brought  to  the  Tower  again,  he  sent 


344  ESSEX'S  CONFESSIONS.  [Book  II. 

to  the  Lord  Thomas  Howard,  then  Constable  of  the 
Tower,  to  entreat  him  to  move  her  Majesty  to  send  unto 
him  the  Lord  Keeper,  Lord  Treasurer,  Lord  Admiral, 
and  me  the  Secretary  by  name,  that  he  might  now  dis- 
charge his  conscience,"  etc. :  a  story  which  is  partly  con- 
firmed b}'^  the  reporter  of  the  trial,  who  represents  him 
as  saying,  towards  the  close  of  the  proceedings,  "  that  be- 
fore his  death  he  would  make  something  known  that 
should  be  acceptable  to  her  Majesty  in  point  of  state." 
On  the  other  hand,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Anthony 
Bacon,  three  months  after,  by  some  man  not  known,  the 
cliauge  is  imputed  entirely  to  the  influence  of  one  Ashton, 
a  Puritan  preacher  who  attended  the  Earl  in  the  Tower 
by  his  own  particular  desire.  The  story  told  in  this  let- 
ter, which  is  very  full  and  circumstantial,  professes  to 
be  the  same  which  Ashton  himself  told  to  "  a  worthy 
person  "  (not  named),  from  whom,  through  how  many 
mouths  we  are  not  informed,  it  came  to  the  writer. 
And  though  an  unsigued  letter  by  a  practiced  penman, 
especially  when  addressed  to  a  man  who  was  not  alive  at 
the  time  (the  letter  is  dated  May  30,  IGOl,  Anthony 
Bacon  died  before  May  27),  is  no  very  good  evidence 
in  such  a  case,  yet  I  see  nothing  improbable  on  the  face 
of  the  narrative  as  far  as  it  goes.  That  the  Earl  did  pe- 
tition to  have  "  his  own  preacher  "  to  attend  him  in  the 
Tower,  Ave  know  upon  other  authority :  it  was  one  of  liis 
last  requests  after  receiving  sentence.  And  wlicu  it  was 
answered  "that  it  was  not  so  convenient  for  him  at  tliat 
tinn^  to  have  his  own  chaplain  as  another,"  he  r('j)lied 
ihal  "  if  :i  man  in  sickness  would  not  williuL^ly  coniinit 
liis  body  to  an  unknown  ])hysician,  he  ho|)('d  it  would 
not  b(!  thought  but  a  reasonabh;  i"c(|U('st  for  liim  at  that 
tinii-  to  liavc  a  j)rcarlicr  wliicli  had  been  ac(iuainlcd  with 
his  conscience,  to  whom  In?  might  more  boldly  open  liis 
h(!art."  Now  a  preacher  who  hail  stood  in  that  relation 
to  him  was  well   <|iialilicd  lo  judge  of  the  sincerity  of  l»is 


1601.]  ESSEX'S  CONFESSIONS.  345 

professions,  and,  if  he  found  liim  (as  the  letter  states  he 
did)  "  exceeding  cheerful  and  prepared  with  great  con- 
tentation  for  his  end,"  might  very  well  think  that  that 
was  not  a  fit  frame  of  mind  for  the  occasion.  Upon  which 
the  rest  of  the  story  follows  naturally  enough  :  namely, 
that  having  frankly  declared  that  he  did  not  believe  his 
tale,  he  succeeded  at  last,  after  long,  severe,  and  solemn 
expostulation,  in  convincing  him  that  it  was  his  duty  to 
make  a  full  confession  :  which  he  accordingly  agreed  to 
do  :  and  thereupon  admitted  that  his  real  end  was  to  get 
the  succession  settled  by  Act  of  Parliament  upon  the 
King  of  Scotland  ;  "  and  named  to  him  sundry  worthy 
persons  both  of  religion,  honor,  and  state  that  had  given 
their  consents  and  were  engaged  with  him  therein.*' 
This,  according  to  the  writer,  was  all :  and  to  this  effect, 
at  Ashton's  instance,  who  threatened  otherwise  to  reveal 
it  himself,  he  made  a  formal  confession. 

Now  that  this  was  the  way  in  which  the  Earl  was  in- 
duced to  begin  his  confessions  does  not  strike  me  as  im- 
probable. The  story  agrees  to  a  certain  extent  with  a 
declaration  (from  which  indeed  with  the  help  of  a  little 
invention  it  might  have  been  constructed)  made  by  Cecil 
at  one  of  the  subsequent  trials  ;  ^  nor  is  it  impossible  that 
the  disclosure  which  the  Earl  first  made  went  no  further 
than  the  writer  of  the  letter  says.  But  though  his  in- 
trigue with  Scotland  formed  no  doubt  a  principal  item  in 
his  revelations,  —  and  a  very  formidable  one,  seeing  tliat 
if  he  told  the  worst  he  must  have  involved  no  less  a  per- 
son than  Lord  Mont  joy  in  a  charge  of  very  high  trea- 
son, —  it  is  certain  that  they  did  not  stop  there.  What 
passed  between  Essex  and  Ashton  tlie  writer  may  have 
had  means  of  knowing :  but  for  what  he  said  to  the 
Lords  of  the  Council  wlien  they  attended  him,  we  must 
seek  our  information  from  one  of  themselves. 

"The  next  day  after,"  proceeds  Cecil  in  his  letter  to  "\Vin- 
1  State  Trials,  l,  1442,  ed.  1816. 


346  ESSEX'S  CONFESSIONS.  [Book  II. 

wood,  "  being  Saturday,  when  it  pleased  her  Majesty  to  send 
us  four  unto  him,  he  did  with  very  great  penitency  confess  how 
sorry  he  was  for  his  obstinate  denials  at  the  bar ;  desiring  he 
miglit  have  liberty  to  set  down  in  writing  his  whole  project  of 
coming  to  the  Court  in  that  sort :  which  he  hath  done  in  four 
sheets  of  paper,  all  under  his  own  hand  ;  and  even  concurring 
with  Sir  Charles  Davers,  Sir  John  Davis,  Sir  Ferdinando 
Gorges,  and  Mr.  Littleton's  confessions.  And  acknowledged 
that  he  sent  divers  articles  to  Drury  House  to  be  considered 
of:  as  namely,  whether  it  were  not  good  at  the  same  time  of 
coming  to  the  Court  to  possess  the  Tower,  for  to  give  reputation 
to  the  action,  if  the  City  should  mislike  it.  Moreover  that  Sir 
Chi-istopher  Blount  with  a  company  of  armed  men  should  take 
the  Court  Gate  ;  Sir  John  Davis  should  master  the  Hall,  and 
go  up  into  the  Great  Chamber,  where  there  should  be  some 
persons  who  unsuspected  one  after  another  should  aforehand  be 
gotten  into  that  room,  and  have  seized  upon  the  halberts  of  the 
guard,  which  commonly  stand  piled  up  against  the  wall ;  and 
Sir  Charles  Davers  should  have  been  in  the  Presence,  where 
some  other  gentlemen  should  likewise  have  made  good  that 
place.  Whereby  my  Lord  of  Essex  with  the  Earls  of  Soutli- 
ampton,  Rutland,  and  otlicr  noblemen  should  have  gone  in  to 
the  (^ueen,and  then  having  her  in  their  possession,  to  have  used 
the  shadow  of  her  authority  for  the  changing  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  and  then  to  liave  called  a  Parliament  and  have  con- 
demned all  those  whom  they  scandalized  to  have  misgoverned 
the  state.  Tiiis  is  the  substance  of  his  confession,  which  he 
both  verbally  delivered  to  us,  and  afterwards  set  down  in  writ- 
ing, lie  furtlier  asked  forgiveness  of  the  Lord  Keeper  and 
those  wliom  he  had  imprisoned  in  his  house;  sorrowing  in  his 
heart  lliat  they  were  put  in  fear  of  their  lives  l)y  his  followers. 
Then  hi',  did  most  passionately  desire  in  Christian  charity  forgive- 
i\QHS  at  lh<'  liands  of  those  persons  wlnmi  lie  h;ul  parlicidarly 
Cidlcfl  Ills  eiKunies;  protesting  tliat  wlien  lie  liad  resolved  of  tliis 
rebellious  act  to  come  to  the  Court  with  force,  he  saw  not  what 
better  pretext  lie  could  have  than  a  particular  quarrel  to  those 
whom  he  had  at  the  bar  named  his  greatest  adversaries.  And 
being  urged  still  to  say  what  he  knew  or  could  reveal,  especially 
^f  tliat  injurious  ini[)iilatioM  to  me,  Ik;  vowed  and  protested  tli;it 


1601.]  ESSEX'S  CONFESSIONS.  347 

in  his  own  conscienqe  he  did  freely  acquit  me  of  any  such  mat- 
ter, and  was  ashamed  to  have  spoken  it,  having  no  better  ground. 
He  protested  also  to  bear  no  malice  to  the  Lord  Cobham  and 
Sir  AValter  Ralegh  Avhom  he  had  named  his  enemies;  and  by 
whom  he  knew  no  other  than  that  they  were  true  servants  to 
the  Queen  and  the  state.  After  that,  he  made  an  humble  suit 
to  the  Queen,  that  he  might  have  the  favor  to  die  privately  in 
the  Tower;  which  her  Majesty  granted,  and  for  which  he  gave 
her  most  humble  thanks." 

Had  this  been  all,  no  reasonable  objection  could  be 
taken,  either  to  the  confession  itself  or  to  the  means 
which  had  been  used  to  induce  it.  He  was  merely  tell- 
ing the  truth  which  he  had  denied,  and  relieving  the 
Government  from  a  false  charge  of  injustice  which  he 
had  himself  endeavored  to  fix  upon  them.  The  dis- 
closure of  the  correspondence  with  Scotland  was  more 
questionable ;  because  it  involved  the  betrayal  of  others 
who  had  entered  into  it  only  for  his  sake,  and  had  them- 
selves betrayed  nothing.  Still,  when  he  came  to  see  it 
himself  in  its  true  light,  it  may  have  seemed  a  thing 
which  the  Queen  had  a  right  to  be  warned  of.  But 
when  we  find  him  volunteering  such  confessions  as  these 
—  that  Sir  Henry  Nevill  had  been  a  party  to  the  treason 
(whose  only  offense  was  that  he  had  known  of  the  con- 
sultations and  not  betrayed  them)  :  that  "  no  man 
showed  himself  more  forward  in  the  streets,  nor  readier 
to  fight  and  defend  the  house  after  their  return  against 
the  Queen's  forces,  nor  more  earnest  that  they  should 
not  have  submitted  themselves,  than  the  Lord  Sandys  :  " 
that  Sheriff  Smith  "  had  been  as  far  euijaered  in  the 
action  as  any  of  them,"  and,  being  charged  with  not 
performing  what  he  had  promised,  had  excused  himself 
saying  that  "  in  that  confusion  he  could  not  draw  his 
regiment  together,"  and  had  "advised  Essex  to  keep  the 
streets:"  when  we  find  him  accusing  Heni-y  Cuffe  and 
Sir  Christopher    Blunt  of  "having  been  his  chief  insti- 


3-48  ESSEX'S  CONFESSIONS.  [Book.  II. 

gators  to  all  those  disloj^al  courses  into  which  he  had 
fallen:"  with  other  things  of  the  kind  which,  whether 
true  or  not,  it  was  no  business  of  his  to  proclaim,^  —  what 
shall  we  say  ?  Those  who  think  that  he  had  even  the 
shadow  of  an  excuse  for  rebelling  cannot  but  think  that 
in  thus  turning  informer  against  his  associates  he  sinned 
past  all  excuse.  His  best  apology  must  be  that  he  was 
the  same  man  still.  The  same  want  of  ballast  which  had 
swayed  him  so  far  from  his  duty  on  one  side  now  carried 
him  as  far  over  on  the  other.  In  his  passion  of  discon- 
tented ambition  he  could  think  of  nothing  but  how  to 
displace  his  rivals ;  in  his  passion  of  penitence  and  dis- 
may he  could  think  of  nothing  but  how  to  expiate  his 
guilt.  The  sudden  collapse  of  his  inflated  confidence, 
the  vision  suddenly  revealed  of  his  crime  in  its  true 
character  and  proportions,  with  death,  judgment,  and 
eternity  in  the  immediate  background,  brought  on  a  fit 
of  religious  terror,  and  blinded  him  to  all  other  consid- 

1  The  Earl  of  Nottingham,  writing  to  Lord  Montjoy  on  the  31st  of  May,  1601, 
gives  the  following  account  of  Essex's  first  communication  to  the  Councillors: 
"And  tiius  lie  did  hegin  to  us.  'I  do  humbly  thank  her  Majesty  that  it  liath 
pleased  her  to  send  you  unto  me,  and  you  are  both  most  heartily  welcome;  and 
above  all  things  I  am  most  bound  unto  her  Majesty  that  it  hath  pleased  lit-r  to 
let  me  have  tliis  little  man,  Mr.  Ashton,  my  minister,  with  me  for  my  soul ;  for,' 
said  he,  '  this  man  in  a  few  hours  hath  made  me  know  my  sins  unto  her  .Majesty 
and  to  my  God;  and  I  must  confess  to  you  that  I  am  the  greatest,  the  most 
vilest,  and  most  unthankful  traitor  that  ever  has  been  in  the  land:  and  there- 
fore, if  it  sliall  please  you,  I  shall  deliver  now  the  truth  thereof.  Yesterday,  at 
the  bar,  like  a  most  sinful  wretch,  with  countenance  and  words  I  imagined  all 
falsehood.'  Then  he  began  to  lay  open  the  practices  for  the  sur|)rising  of  her 
Majesty  and  the  Court;  who  were  at  the  councils  at  Driiry  House,  the  J'jirl  of 
Southampton's  lodging;  that  there  were  these  appointed  by  the  I'Jirl  to  consider 
how  it  ubould  be  put  in  execution,  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  SirCharles  I)avcrs, 
Sir  F.  Gorges,  Sir.Iohn  Davis,  Sir  (Henry)  Nevill,  and  (!uff(!.  Sir  Christopher 
JSIount  he  ever  kept  with  him.  He  spared  none  of  these  to  let  us  know  how 
continually  they  labored  him  about  it.  'And  now,'  sai<l  he,  *I  must  accuse  one 
who  is  most  ni-nrest  unto  me,  my  sister;  who  did  continually  urge  me  on  with 
telling  me  how  all  my  friends  ancl  followers  thought  me  a  coward,  and  that  I 
nad  lost  all  my  vaU>r.'  And  tlien  thus,  '  that  she  must  be  looked  lo,  for  that  she 
had  a  proud  spirit;  '  and  spared  not  to  say  something  of  h<;r  affection  to  j'ou. 
Would  j'our  Lf)rdsliip  liavct  thought  this  weakness  and  this  uniiaturalriess  iu  this 
man?  "  — Tanner  MSS.  70,  fo.  22:  the  original  lettiir. 


1601.]  CHARGE  AGAINST  SIK  JOHN  DAVIS.  349 

erations.  And  so  it  was  to  the  end.  For  his  behavior 
on  the  scaffold  is  distinguished  from  that  of  almost  all 
other  performers  on  that  stage  by  being  natural  and  un- 
affected. At  that  hour  he  had  no  thought  to  spare  for 
relations,  friends,  or  spectators ;  no  consciousness  of  his 
own  position  as  principal  figure  in  a  public  spectacle : 
but  bore  himself  siniply  like  a  man  who  felt  that  he  had 
committed  a  great  sin  and  believed  that  he  was  passing 
straight  to  judgment. 

Of  the  remaining  prisoners  only  five  were  brought  to 
trial:  Blount,  Davers,  Davis,  Merick,  and  Cuffe.  They 
were  tried  on  the  5th  of  March ;  the  only  Counsel  em- 
ployed being  Coke,  Fleming,  and  Bacon ;  and  the  only 
part  assigned  to  Bacon  being  the  charge  against  Davis. 

Of  his  speech  on  this  occasion  the  only  report,  and  in- 
deed the  only  notice  I  have  met  wdth,  is  in  the  State 
Trials,  and  runs  thus  :  — 

"Asfainst  Sir  John  Davis  Mr.  Francis  Bacon  urged 
the  evidence,  beginning  with  discourse  upon  the  former 
ground  of  Mr.  Attorney's,  that  every  rebellion  implied 
destruction  of  the  Prince,  and  that  in  the  precedents  of 
Edward  II.  and  Henry  IV.  the  pretense  in  both  was,  as 
in  this,  against  certain  subjects ;  the  Spencers  in  one  and 
the  Treasurer  in  the  other.  And  this  stjde  of  protesta- 
tion, that  no  harm  was  intended  to  the  person  of  the 
sovereign,  was  common  in  traitors.  Manlius,  the  lieu- 
tenant of  Catiline,  had  that  very  protestation.  But  the 
proceeding  is  such  in  this  as  no  long  discoursing  needs  to 
prove  it  treason :  the  act  itself  was  treason. 

"  The  principal  offenses  charged  upon  Sir  John  Davis 
were  two :  one,  that  he  was  a  plotter  and  of  the  coun- 
cil at  Drury  House  ;  another,  that  in  the  insurrection  he 
had  the  custody  of  the  Privy  Councillors  in  Essex  House, 
which  had  a  correspondence  with  the  action  in  the  street. 

"  The  plot  and  insurrection  entered  into  was  to  give 
'-aws  to  the  Queen  :  the  preparation  was  to  have  a  choice 


350  CHARGE  AGAINST  SIR  JOHN  DAVIS.  [Book  II. 

band  of  men  for  action  ;  men  not  met  together  by  constel- 
lation ;  but  assembled  upon  summons  and  letters  sent. 
For,  said  Mr.  Bacon,  I  will  not  charge  Sir  John  Davis, 
although  he  be  a  man  skillful  in  strange  arts,  that  he  sent 
spirits  abroad ;  but  letters  were  sent  about  this  matter. 
The  things  to  be  acted  were  the  matters  consulted  of, 
and  tlien  to  design  fit  persons  for  every  action :  and  for 
mutual  encouragement  there  was  a  list  of  names  drawn 
by  the  Earl ;  and  these  counsellors  out  of  them  were  to 
elect  fit  persons  to  every  office.  The  second  plot  was  in 
taking  of  the  Court,^  and  in  this  consultation  he  was 
jyenna  philosoplii-scrihentis ;  you  were  clerk  of  that 
council-table  and  wrote  all :  and  in  the  detaining  of  the 
Privy  Councillors  you  were  the  man  only  trusted.  And, 
as  the  Earl  of  Rutland  said,  you  held  it  a  stratagem  of 
war  to  detain  pledges,  and  was  (sic)  meant  to  have  car- 
ried the  Lord  Keeper  with  the  Great  Seal  into  London, 
and  to  have  had  with  you  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  a 
man  for  his  integrity  honored  and  well  beloved  of  the 
citizens.  And  this  Achitophel  plot  you  thought  to  have 
followed." 

This  is  all  that  is  reported,  and  may  perhaps  have 
been  all  that  Bacon  spoke.  For  "  hereupon,"  adds  the 
reporter,  "  Sir  John  Davis  told  Mr.  Bacon,  If  with  good 
mauiu'i's  I  might,  I  would  long  since  liave  interrupted 
you,  and  saved  you  a  great  part  of  [your]  labor:  for  my 
intent  is  not  to  deny  anything  I  have  said  or  e.Kcuse  tliat 
I  have  done,  but  to  confess  myself  guilty  of  all,  and  sub- 
mit myself  wholly  to  tlie  (Queen's  mercy.  But  in  that 
you  call  me  clerk  of  tliat  council,  let  me  tell  you  that 
Sir  Charles  Davers  was  writing,  but  liis  hand  being  bad, 
I  was  desired  to  take;  the  pen  and  write.  But  by  and  by 
tlie  Earl  said  ho  would  speed  it  himself;  thert-fore  we 
being  together  so  long  and  doing  so  little,  the  Earl  went 
to  his  house  and  set  down  all  with  his  own  h:in<l,  which 

1  .Sic. 


IGOl.]  OFFICIAL  NARRATIVE  OF  Till':  TREASON.  351 

was  formerly  set  forth,  toucliiiig  tlie  taking  and  possess- 
ing of  the  Court."  ^ 

The  only  one  of  the  prisoners  who  attempted  to  con- 
test the  charge  was  Cnffe,  whose  case,  though  he  had  been 
deeply  implicated  in  the  conspiracy,  was  in  one  respect 
different  from  the  others,  inasmuch  as  he  had  taken  no 
l^art  in  the  Sunday  tumult,  but  remained  all  day  in  Es- 
sex House ;  but  all  five  were  found  guilty  and  sentenced 
CO  death  in  the  usual  form. 

By  this  time  the  Government  were  satisfied  that  they 
had  seen  the  bottom  of  the  conspiracy.  Formidable  as  it 
had  seemed  at  first,  from  the  number  and  quality  of  tho 
persons  eng;iged  and  the  darkness  in  which  it  had  been 
L-onducted,  yet  being  unconnected  with  any  cause  of  pub- 
lic interest,  —  having,  in  fact,  no  object  at  all  but  to 
further  the  personal  ambition  of  one  man,  —  now  that 
this  one  man  was  gone  there  was  nothing  left  to  conspire 
for.  It  was  a  great  danger  escaped  ;  but  the  escape  was 
complete.  Public  security  did  not  require  the  sacrifice  of 
more  lives  ;  private  influence,  Cecil's  as  well  as  Bacon's, 
was  used  on  the  side  of  mercy :  and  with  the  execution 
of  Essex  himself,  of  Sir  Christopher  Blount,  Sir  Charles 
Davers,  Sir  Gilly  Merick,  and  Henry  Cnffe  (who  had  all 
been  more  than  followers  in  the  enterprise),  the  work  of 
the  executioner  stopped. 

But  there  was  still  one  thing  unprovided  for.  Popular 
feeUng  having  run  so  strongly  in  favor  of  Essex,  and  the 
public  exposition  of  the  case  having  been  so  confused  and 
weak,  it  was  still  necessary  to  satisfy  the  peo/)?e  —  the 
reading,  writing,  and  talking  public  —  that  their  favorite 
had  received  no  wrong.  The  freedom  with  which  he  had 
informed  against  his  associates  had  indeed  incidentally 
helped  the  cause  of  justice  by  releasing  them  on  tlu'ir 
parts  from  all  obligations  of  secrecy,  so  far  as  he  was  con- 
cerned.    Blunt  and  Davers  were  thenceforth  at  liberty 

1  State  Trials,  I,  1438,  eel.  1816. 


852  OFFICIAL  NARRATIVE  OF  THE  TREASON.       [Book  II. 

to  reveal  what  tlu-y  knew:  ami  being  brave  men  who 
had  given  up  all  hope  of  life  and  did  not  mean  either  to 
deny  what  they  had  done  or  to  justify  it,  they  appear  to 
have  spoken  out  without  any  reserve.  If  any  man  still 
doubted  whether  treason  had  been  committed,  the  addi- 
tional facts  now  by  them  disclosed  removed  that  doubt, 
and  showed  besides  that  the  treason  was  of  longer  stand- 
ing, of  wider  reach,  of  more  dangerous  and  unscrupulous 
character,  than  at  the  time  of  the  trial  it  appeared  to  be. 
But  these  disclosures  had  been  made  known  as  yet  only 
by  fractions,  and  mostly  through  the  mouth  of  Coke, 
which  was  not  the  best  medium  of  communication  where 
the  object  was  to  conciliate  opponents  or  to  satisfy  dis- 
sentients. They  had  not  yet  been  put  together  so  as  to 
be  seen  in  their  true  relation  to  each  other  and  to  the  en- 
tire case.  For  the  information  and  satisfaction  of  the 
public,  therefore,  a  clear,  readable,  and  authentic  narra- 
tive of  the  whole  proceeding  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  was  still  wanted ;  and  the  Queen  resolved  to  have 
one  put  forth.  Who  was  the  fittest  man  to  draw  it  up, 
if  she  had  i-ead  any  account  of  the  trial,  she  could  have 
little  doubt;  and  on  the  IGth  of  March,  Coke  "delivered 
to  Mr.  Solicitor  twenty-five  papers  concerning  the  Karl 
of  Essex  treasons,  etc.,  to  be  deliver«jd  to  Mr.  Francis 
Bacon  for  her  Majesty's  service."  ^ 

Tills  service  was  no  doubt  tlie  drawing  up  of  tlie 
"Declaration  of  the  Practices  and  Treasons  attempted 
and  committed  by  R<jbert,  late  Earl  of  Essex,  and  his 
Con)plic<'s:  "  conccirning  Bacon's  share  in  which  wc;  know 
thus  nnich  upon  his  own  autliority,  —  that  he  was  com- 
manded by  the  (^iicen  to  write  it:  that  having  received 
particular  and  ininutr,  instructions  as  to  the  manner  of 
treatment,  he  drew  it  up  accordingly ;  that  his  draft, 
being  then  submitted    "  by  the  Queen's  appointment  to 

J  MeniorniKliim,  writtJMi  in  fVikc'n  liniid  on  the  cover  of  a  k'tter  addressed  to 
khu  Right  Worshipful  tlie  Attoriicy-Uuneral.     S.  P.  O. 


IGOl.]  OFFICIAL  NARRATIVE  OF  TUE  TREASON.  353 

certain  principal  Councillors,"  was  "  perused,  weighed, 
censured,  altered,  and  made  almost  a  new  writing,  ac- 
cording to  their  Lordships'  better  consideration : "  after 
which  it  was  "  exactly  perused  by  the  Queen  herself,  and 
some  alterations  made  again  by  her  appointment,"  both 
in  the  manuscript  and  in  the  first-printed  copy. 

What  the  particular  alterations  were,  or  how  far  Ba- 
con in  his  private  judgment  approved  of  them,  we  have 
no  means  of  knowing,  no  part  of  the  original  draft  being 
in  existence.  But  in  an  official  declaration  which  was  to 
be  put  forth  in  the  Queen's  name  and  by  her  authority, 
it  was  fit  that  the  Queen  herself  with  the  advice  of  her 
Council  should  both  prescribe  the  form  and  superintend 
the  execution.  Even  if  Bacon  had  seriously  disapproved 
of  the  proposed  alterations,  their  right  to  make  what 
alterations  they  thought  proper  in  a  document  for  which 
not  he  but  they  were  responsible  was  too  clear  and  ob- 
vious to  be  questioned.  He  might  advise,  warn,  expos- 
tulate ;  but  it  would  have  been  merely  ridiculous  to  insist. 
Fortunately,  however,  differences  of  this  serious  kind  do 
not  appear  to  have  arisen.  The  effect  of  the  alterations 
prescribed  by  the  Queen  was  apparently  to  impart  to 
the  composition  a  somewhat  harder  and  colder  tone  tlian 
he  had  given  it,  or  than  he  liked.^  But  with  regard  to 
the  more  material  changes  introduced  at  the  instance  of 
the  Councillors,  he  distinctly  states  that  "  their  Lord- 
sliips  and  himself  both  were  as  religious  and  curious  of 
truth  as  desirous  of  satisfaction."  ^  In  matters  of  sub- 
stance therefore  it  must  be  considered  as  having  his  per- 

1  "  Nay,  and  after  it  was  set  to  print,  the  Queen,  who,  as  your  Lordship 
knoweth,  as  she  was  excellent  in  great  matters  so  she  was  exquisite  in  small  ; 
and  noted  that  I  could  not  forget  my  ancient  respect  to  my  Lord  of  Essex,  in 
terming  him  ever  My  Lord  of  Essex,  My  Lord  of  Essex,  in  almost  every  page  of 
the  book,  which  she  thought  not  fit,  but  would  have  it  made  Essex,  or  the  late 
Earl  of  Essex  :  whereupon  of  force  it  was  printed  de  novo,  and  the  first  copies 
suppressed  by  her  peremptory  commandmeut."  — Apology. 

2  Apology. 

VOL.  I.  23 


354  OFFICIAL  NARRATIVE  OF  THE  TREASON.        [Book  II. 

sonal  imprimatur  as  well  as  that  of  the  Government.     It 
was  sent  to  tlie  pi-ess  on  the  14th  of  April,  1601. 

Not  having  met  with  any  contemporary  notice  of  tliis 
publication,  I  cannot  say  what  impression  it  made  on 
popular  opinion  at  the  time.  It  had  its  effect  probably 
in  satisfying  impartial  minds  of  the  then  living  genera- 
tion, and  in  assisting  the  historian  of  the  reign  to  relate 
that  passage  truly.  But  when  a  question  of  this  kind 
has  been  practically  disposed  of  and  ceased  to  be  a  matter 
of  business,  then,  if  the  incidents  be  picturesque,  pathetic, 
or  otherwise  exciting  enough  to  attract  a  popular  audi- 
ence, it  becomes  a  matter  of  fiction.  Hence  when  in  the 
heat  of  the  unpopularity  of  the  Spanish  match,  some 
twenty  years  after,  "  Essex's  Ghost  "  was  brought  on  the 
political  stage  to  warn  and  exhort,  he  reappeared  in  all 
the  colors  of  romance ;  as  the  representative  hero  of  the 
then  popular  cause ;  the  invincible  captain  before  whose 
face  nothing  Spanish  could  ever  stand  ;  the  true  subduer 
of  the  Irish  rebellion,  of  whose  work  another  had  merely 
inherited  the  fruit  and  carried  away  the  credit;  the  pa- 
triotic councillor  whose  patriotism  had  brought  upon  him 
the  hatred  of  wicked  men,  who  by  malicious  intrigues 
ar.d  falst;  accusations  pursued  liim  to  death  ;  sucli  a  man 
in  short  as  people  delight  to  believe  in.  In  tliis  character 
he  now  took  iiis  place  in  our  popular  mytholog}'  ;  the  true 
narrative  sinking  at  the  same  time  by  necessary  conse- 
quence into  a  slanderous  libel.  Tluis  the  authentic  his- 
tory was  sn()erseded  in  authority  by  the  unautlientic;. 
The  fiction  which  liad  neither  evi<lence  nor  sponsor  to 
support  it  was  accepted  as  a  n^vehition  of  "  truth  brouglit 
to  light  by  time;"  while  tln^  carefid  oflicial  declaration, 
framed  with  studious  accuracy,  guarded  at  every  step 
with  attested  depositions,  resting  on  the  personal  credit 
of  men  whom  everybody  knew,  containing  not  a  single 
8tatem(!nt  that  eonld  l)e  fairly  disputed,  was  denounced 
as  a  libel  and  a  fiction.     Such  was  the  character  it  had 


IGOl.]  MR.   JARDINE'S  CHARGE  AGAINST  BACON.  355 

acquired  when  Clarendon  (for  I  cannot  think  that  his 
judgment  was  formed  upon  any  serious  inquiry  of  his 
own,  even  in  his  early  life)  wrote  his  remarks  on  Wot- 
ton's  "  Parallel,"  and  such  is  the  character  it  still  bears  ; 
one  writer  repeating  it  after  another,  though  not  one  has 
ever  attempted  (so  far  as  I  know)  to  point  out  any  clause 
of  any  sentence  in  it  which  asserts  or  implies  what  is  not 
true.^  Nay,  the  error  instead  of  wearing  out  with  time 
seems  to  be  gathering  other  kindred  errors  round  it :  for 
M^thin  these  thirty  years  a  specilic  charge  of  dishonesty 
bearing  personally  upon  Bacon  has  grown  out  of  it ;  and 
though  this  charge  breaks  down  the  moment  it  is  looked 
into,  yet  it  rests  upon  authority  too  respectable,  and  has 
been  received  without  examination  or  suspicion  by  too 
many  subsequent  writers,  and  is  indeed  when  unexam- 
ined too  specious  in  itself,  to  be  passed  b}^  here  without 
notice. 

When  the  late  Mr.  Jardine  was  preparing  his  account 
of  the  trial  of  the  Earls  of  Essex  and  Southampton  for 
the  "  Library  of  Entertaining  Knowledge,"  he  searched 
or  employed  somebody  to  search  the  State  Paper  Office. 
There  he  found  many  of  the  depositions  which  were  read 
at  the  trial  and  published  by  way  of  appendix  in  the 
"Declaration  of  Treasons:"  found  them  in  their  orio-inal 
condition,  with  Coke's  memoranda  and  directions  as  to 
the  parts  which  were  to  be  read,  still  le'^ible  in  the  mar- 
gin. In  several  places,  however,  he  observed  in  another 
hand,  which  appeared  to  be  Bacon's,  the  letters  om.  writ- 
ten: and  looking  at  the  printed  Declaration  for  the  pas- 
sages so  marked,  he  found  that  they  were  all  omitted. 
Upon  this  he  concluded  that  the  passages  in  question, 
though  they  had  been  read  and  proved  in  Court,  were 

1  Dr.  Abbott  has  since  pointed  out  twelve  places  in  which  he  assorts  that 
the  truth  is  misstated  or  suppressed.  I  have  carefully  examined  them  all,  and 
am  prepared  to  maintain  that  he  has  not  shown  a  sinjjle  material  circumstance 
in  which  the  effect  of  the  original  depositions  is  misrepresented  in  tiie  narra- 
tive. 


356  mi.  JARDINE'S   CHARGE  AGAINST  BACON.         [Book  H. 

struck  out  after  the  trial  by  Bacon  himself,  to  suit  the 
purposes  of  the  Declaration :  and  then  setting  himself  to 
guess  what  those  purposes  might  be,  fell  upon  this,  that 
they  must  have  been  omitted  because  they  tended  to 
soften  the  evidence  against  Essex,  and  to  contradict  or 
qualify  in  some  of  its  material  features  the  story  of  the 
transaction  which  the  Government  thought  fit  to  circu- 
late :  whence  it  appeared  that  Bacon  had  been  personally 
guilty  of  "  garbling  the  depositions  "  in  order  to  falsify 
the  history  of  the  case. 

A  grave  charge.  To  which,  however,  the  answer  need 
not  be  long,  though  it  falls  into  four  divisions.  First,  it 
is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  marks  in  question  were 
made  with  reference  to  the  Declaration  at  all.  Secondly, 
it  is  quite  possible  that  the  passages  in  question  had  been 
omitted  at  the  trial.  Thirdly,  whether  the  omission  were 
right  or  wrong,  there  is  no  ground  for  imputing  it  to  Ba- 
con personally.  Fourthly,  the  passages  omitted  do  not 
in  any  one  particular  tend  to  soften  the  evidence  against 
Essex  as  explained  in  the  narrative  part,  or  to  modify  in 
any  way  the  history  of  the  case,  as  far  as  it  concerned 
him. 

That  the  marks  were  made  with  a  view  to  the  Decla- 
ration I  doubt,  because,  though  it  be  true  that  none  of 
the  passages  so  marked  are  inserted  in  tlie  appendix,  it  is 
aKso  true  that  se\«eral  which  are  not  so  marked  are  never- 
theless omitted  in  the  appendix,  ami  that  similar  marks 
are  found  in  other  papers  of  which  no  [)art  is  printed 
there  ;  and  biicause  tlusy  may  be  easily  accounted  for  in 
anotluM-  way.  Several  persons,  each  of  whom  had  borne 
a  din"i;rent  share  in  the  action,  and  whosc^  several  cases 
required  each  a  se|)arate  proof,  were  to  be  tried  upon  evi- 
dence coiitainccl  in  tll(^S(•  same.  d(q)ositioiis.  Why  niay 
not  the  marks  have  been  made  with  a  view  to  some;  of 
tlu^se  trials, —  the  oltjcct  of  the  omissions  being  to  clear 
till'  cvidoiicc  ill  llio.s(!  cases  of  supcrlliious  matter? 


1601.]       •     MR.  JARDINE'S  CHARGE  AGAINST  BACON.  357 

That  the  passages  in  question  bad  been  read  and 
pi'oved  at  the  trial  I  also  doubt.  The  fact  is  assumed  by 
Mr.  Jardine  only  because  they  bad  not  been  marked  for 
omission  by  Coke.  But  why  may  not  Coke  have  meant 
to  produce  a  piece  of  evidence  which  be  afterwards  found 
reason  to  withhold  ?  And  why  may  not  Bacon,  in  a  pub- 
lication professing  to  give  "such  confessions  as  were  given 
in  evidence  at  the  arraignments,"  have  struck  out  those 
parts  which  were  not  given  in  evidence  ? 

That  the  fact  of  the  marks  being  in  Bacon's  handwrit- 
ing proves  that  he  was  personally  responsible  for  them 
I  deny :  because  the  question  what  should  be  published 
and  what  withheld  was  for  the  Council  to  settle,  not  for 
him  :  and  he  may  have  been  merely  writing  down  their 
directions. 

With  regard  to  the  general  charge  of  untruthfulness,  I 
have  said  that  nobody  has  yet  attempted  to  specify  any 
particular  untruth  expressed  or  implied  in  the  govern- 
ment Declaration.  And  it  is  singular  that  Mr.  Jardine 
himself  does  not  form  an  exception  :  for  though  be  does 
specify,  as  contradicted  by  one  of  the  omitted  passages,  a 
particular  statement  which  be  assumes  to  be  contained 
in  the  Declaration,  it  is  certain  that  there  is  no  sucli 
statement  tliere  ;  but  that  on  the  contrary  the  precise 
import  of  that  passage,  as  Mr.  Jardine  himself  infers  it, 
is  represented  in  the  body  of  the  narrative  with  delicate 
exactness.  In  the  absence  of  such  specification,  I  can 
only  oppose  to  the  general  charge  a  general  expression  of 
my  own  conviction ;  which  is,  that  the  narrative  put  forth 
by  the  Government  was  meant  to  be,  and  was  by  its  au- 
thors believed  to  be,  a  narrative  strictly  and  scrupulously 
veracious.  It  is  true  that  it  was  written  under  the  ex- 
citement and  agitation  of  that  last  and  most  portentous 
disclosure,  which,  in  proving  that  Essex  had  been  capable 
of  designs  far  worse  than  anybody  had  suspected  him  of, 
suggested  a  new  explanation  of  all  that  had  been  most 


858  ADDITIONAL  EVIDENCES.  [Book  II. 

suspicious  and  mysterious  in  his  previous  proceedings ; 
and  it  may  be  that  things  which  before  had  been  rejected 
as  incredible  were  now  too  easily  believed.  In  so  dark  a 
thing  as  treason  it  is  impossible  to  have  positive  evidence 
at  every  step.  Many  passages  must  remain  obscure  and 
fairly  open  to  more  interpretations  than  one :  and  in  one 
or  two  of  those  points  which  are  and  profess  to  be  "  mat- 
ter of  inference  or  presumption,"  as  distinguished  from 
"  matter  of  plain  and  direct  proofs,"  there  is  room  prob- 
ably, without  setting  aside  indisputable  facts,  for  an  in- 
terpretation of  Essex's  conduct  more  favorable  than  that 
adopted  by  the  Queen  and  her  Councillors.  It  does 
not  indeed  follow  either  that  such  interpretation  is  the 
more  probable,  or  even  that  it  was  not  knoivn  by  them 
to  be  inadmissible.  Still  some  mistakes  in  that  direc- 
tion are  not  unlikely  to  have  occurred,  and  it  is  fit  they 
should  be  exposed  by  tho.se  who  can  do  it.  Only  it 
must  be  upon  such  a  theory  as  explains,  not  ignores,  the 
facts. 

In  my  own  account  of  the  matter  so  far,  I  have  ab- 
stained, in  deference  to  so  giMieral  a  prejudice,  from  using 
the  Declaration  as  an  authority  ;  and  have  assumed  as  a 
fact  nothing  for  which  I  cannot  quote  evidence  independ- 
ent of  it.  But  so  far  as  I  can  see,  the  only  considerable 
coi-rection  which  it  requires  tends  to  confinn  the  substan- 
tial truth  of  the  rest,  and  to  relieve  it  from  the  charge  of 
])utting  a  construction  upon  Essex's  conduct  worse  than 
tii<!  facts  sconicd  necessarily  to  involve.  I  allude  to  the 
thne  at  wliich  the  Earl  is  said  to  have  communicated  to 
lilouut  and  Southampton  his  project  of  returning  to  Eng- 
land at  the  h(>ad  of  his  army  and  so  bringing  the  Govern- 
ment to  conditions.  It  haj)pen8,  singularly  enongli,  that 
until  the  discovery  of  the;  Hatfield  copy  of  Sir  Christo- 
j)1mt  lilunt's  examination,  bearing  Iiis  own  signature,  for 
which  we  are  indel)te(|  to  Mr.  I'nicc!,  none  of  the  re[)f)rts, 
eitlier  of  his  confession  or  of  Southampton's,  gave  the  ex- 


1601.]  BACON'S  CONDUCT  TOWARDS  ESSEX.  359 

act  date  of  that  communication,  either  directly  or  by  im- 
plication. Bacon,  it  seems,  supposed  that  it  took  place 
after  the  parley  with  Tyrone,  and  that  the  parley  itself 
was  a  preparative  towards  it.  I  was  myself  rather  dis- 
posed to  connect  it  with  the  receipt  of  the  Queen's  letter 
of  the  17th  of  September,  and  to  take  it  for  a  sudden 
plunge  out  of  a  hopeless  embarrassment.^  It  now  appears, 
if  there  be  no  error  in  the  signed  examination  (and  Mr. 
Bruce  assures  me,  upon  a  second  reference,  that  the 
words  of  the  MS.  are  clear),  that  the  project  was  not 
only  meditated  but  announced  "  some  days  before  the 
Earl's  journey  into  the  North :  "  some  days  therefore  be- 
fore the  end  of  August ;  at  which  time  not  one  of  his  req- 
uisitions had  been  refused,  nor  one  of  his  plans  of  action 
interfered  with.  He  had  been  forbidden,  it  is  true,  to 
leave  his  post  without  license  ;  but  he  had  received  from 
England  all  the  reinforcements  he  had  asked  for ;  he  had 
obtained  authority  not  a  month  before  to  raise  an  addi- 
tional force  of  2,000  men  in  Ireland ;  and  he  not  only 
still  retained  all  the  unusually  large  powers  with  which 
he  had  been  sent  out,  but  was  at  that  very  time  ex- 
pected, encouraged,  and  extremely  wished  by  the  Gov- 
ernment to  make  himself  as  strong  as  possible  for  the 
coming  encounter  with  Tyrone.  That  he  should  have 
meditated  such  a  use  of  these  forces  at  such  a  time  is  a 
fact  which  certainly  tells  formidably  in  favor  of  the  dark- 
est view  of  the  spirit  and  purposes  with  which  he  under- 
took the  service  ;  and  the  error  (if  it  be  an  error)  as  to 
the  date  of  the  communication,  I  can  only  account  for  by 
supposing  that  Bacon  took  his  information  from  a  rough 
memorandum  of  Blunt's  oral  confession,  set  down  by 
Coke,  and  remaining  among  the  other  depositions  in  tlie 
Record  Office  ;  and  had  not  seen  the  copy  of  his  subse- 
quent examination  preserved  at  Hatfield.  It  is  easily 
conceivable  that  among  so  many  papers  one  may  have 

1  See  above,  p.  269. 


360  BACON'S  CONDUCT  TOWARDS  ESSEX.  [Book  II. 

been  mislaid  or  overlooked,  and  the  existence  of  another 
copy  which  contained  all  that  was  most  material  in  it 
(this  date  excepted)  may  have  prevented  the  oversight 
from  being  detected. 

In  Bacon's  narrative  the  correction  may  be  introduced 
without  disturbing  the  rest  of  the  story.  My  own  I  have 
thought  better  to  leave  as  it  was :  for  in  the  absence  of 
Bhint's  express  statement,  I  should  still  think  that  the 
Queen's  letter  of  the  17th  of  September  was  the  most 
probable  motive  of  Essex's  resolution  ;  and  as  all  depends 
upon  the  accuracy  of  a  single  word  in  a  deposition  which 
was  never  subjected  to  scrutiny  or  cross-examination,  and 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  made  in  tlie  presence  of 
more  than  one  witness,  I  cannot  help  suspecting  a  mis- 
take. A  slip  of  the  pen,  the  tongue,  the  memory,  or 
tlie  attention  might  easily  convert  "some  days  after" 
into  "  some  days  before,"  or  "  a  journey  into  England  " 
into  "  a  journey  into  the  North."  Most  writers  wlio 
have  corrected  many  proof-sheets  have  been  surprised 
afterwards  by  discovering  errors  more  striking  than 
these,  which  they  must  have  looked  at,  yet  had  failed  to 
see.  If  the  consultation  with  Blunt  and  Southampton 
took  place  some  days  before  the  Earl's  journey  into  the 
North  (which  was  in  the  beginning  of  September),  I 
think  it  must  have  been  induced  by  the  Queen's  previous 
letter  of  July  oO,  in  which  she  forbade  him  to  leave  his 
post  without  license.^ 

In  a  nolc  to  Dr.  Uawlcy's  "Life  of  Bacon "  ^  I  said 
tliat  I  liatl  no  fault  to  fiixl  with  liini  for  any  part  of  his 
conduct  towards  Essex,  and  that  1  thought  many  ])e()plo 
would  agree  with  me  when  they  saw  the  case  fairly 
stated.  Closer  examination  hiis  not  at  all  altered  my 
opinion  on  eitlier  jjoint.  And  if  1  have  taken  no  notice 
of  what  has  been  said  on  the  other  side,  it  is  because  I  do 
not  wish  to  encumber  this  book  with  answers  to  objec- 

1  Sec  J).  200.  '^  Works,  vol.  i.,  I'urt  I.,  p.  40. 


1601.]  BACON'S  CONDUCT  TOWARDS  ESSEX.  361 

tions  which  a  competent  judgment  would  not  raise  ;  and  I 
cannot  think  that  any  of  the  objections  which  have  been 
urged  against  Bacon's  conduct  in  this  matter  would  nat- 
urally suggest  themselves  to  a  reasonable  person  in  read- 
ing the  story  as  I  have  told  it. 


BOOK  III. 

— * — 

CHAPTER   I. 

A.  D.  1601.      APKIL-DECEMBEE.      ^TAT.  40. 

It  is  singular  that  of  two  men  so  remarkable  in  their 
several  ways  as  Bacon  and  Coke,  whose  fortunes,  ob- 
jects, tastes,  ideas,  and  dispositions  crossed  each  other  at 
so  many  points,  and  whose  business  must  liave  brought 
them  so  continually  into  company  and  so  frequently  into 
conflict,  the  personal  relations  should  be  so  little  known. 
No  anecdotes  have  been  preserved  by  the  news  writers  of 
the  day  wliich  enable  us  to  form  a  clear  idea  of  their 
behavior  to  each  other  when  they  met,  the  style  of  their 
conversation,  or  the  temper  of  their  courtesies.  Of  one 
or  two  collisions  on  matters  of  official  business  occur- 
ring at  a  later  time  we  have  Bacon's  report ;  and  of  one 
or  two  passages  of  good-humored  repartee.  But  if  it 
were  not  for  the  two  letters  which  come  next  in  order, 
wo  should  know  nothing  of  the  sort  of  y)ersonal  feeling 
which,  on  one  side  at  least,  must  have  lain  very  near  the 
surface,  and  been  ready  on  provocation  to  break  t)ut. 
From  the  fact  that  Bacon  on  this  occasion  thouglit  it 
expedient  to  set  down  in  writing  a  memorandum  of  what 
passed,  while  it  was  fresli,  we  may  iiilVr  Ihat  the  case  was 
exceptional.  But  if  his  report  i)e  true,  it  must  be  taken 
to  imply  a  gn;at  deal  as  to  the  terms  ujion  which  the  two 
men  habitually  stood  towards  each  oilier. 

The  occasion  was  a  motion  made  by  J'aeon  in  the  Ex- 
chequer f(n-  resei/ure  of  the  lands  of  a  relapsed  recusant. 
Ill    wliat    way   kiicIi    a   iiinlion    \v:is    likely    to   aHVoiil    llio 


IGOl.]  BACON'S  LETTER  TO  CECIL.  363 

Queen's  Attorney  General,  who  had  never  shown  any  ten- 
derness for  such  offenders,  I  am  not  sure  that  I  under- 
stand correctly.  But  I  suppose  that  the  recusant  in 
question  had  been  previously  discharged  from  the  pen- 
alties of  recusancy  upon  submission  ;  and  Bacon's  argu- 
ment for  the  reseizure  may  have  reflected  on  the  manage- 
ment of  the  case  on  that  occasion  in  the  Queen's  behalf. 
"  Reseiser  "  (says  Cowell)  "  is  a  taking  again  of  lands 
into  the  King's  hands,  whereof  a  general  livery  or  ouster 
le  main  was  formerly  missued  by  any  person  or  persons, 
and  not  according  to  form  and  order  of  law."  If  such 
had  been  the  case  here,  it  may  have  been  through  Coke's 
fault. 

The  thing  is  not  elsewhere  alluded  to,  so  far  as  I  know  ; 
nor  was  this  report  made  public  at  the  time,  or  meant  to 
be  published  afterwards.  It  was  addressed  privately  to 
Sir  Robert  Cecil,  and  remained  among  the  collections  at 
Hatfield,  where  Murdin  finding  it  sent  a  copy  to  Birch, 
who  printed  it  in  his  "  Letters,  Speeches,  Charges,"  etc., 
in  1763. 

TO   ME.    SECEETARY   CECIL. 

It  may  please  youe  Honoe,  —  Because  we  live  in 
an  age  where  every  man's  imperfections  is  but  another's 
fable  ;  and  that  there  fell  out  an  accident  in  the  Ex- 
chequer, which  I  know  not  how  nor  how  soon  may  be 
traduced,  though  I  dare  trust  rumor  in  it,  except  it  be 
malicious  or  extreme  partial ;  I  am  bold  now  to  possess 
your  Honor,  as  one  that  ever  I  found  careful  of  my  ad- 
vancement and  yet  more  jealous  of  my  wrongs,  with  the 
truth  of  that  which  passed ;  deferring  my  further  request 
until  I  may  attend  your  honor ;  and  so  I  continue 
Your  Honor's  very  humble. 

And  particularly  bounden, 

Fe.  Bacon. 

Gray's  Inn,  this  29th  i  of  April,  160L 

1  24th  in  Birch's  copy.  But  as  Ea.<;ter  Term  in  IGOl  began  on  the  29th  of 
April,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  is  a  mistake. 


364        ALTERCATION  BETWEEN  BACON  AND  COKE.      [Book  III. 

A  true  remembrance  of  the  abuse  I  received  of  Mr.  At- 
torney General  publicly  in  the  Exchequer  the  first  day 
of  term  ;  for  the  truth  whereof  1  refer  myself  to  all  that 
were  present. 

I  moved  to  have  a  reseizure  of  the  lands  of  Geo. 
Moore,  a  relapsed  recusant,  a  fugitive,  and  a  practicing 
traitor ;  and  shewed  better  matter  for  the  Queen  against 
the  discharge  by  plea,  which  is  ever  with  a  salvo  jure. 
And  this  I  did  in  as  gentle  and  reasonable  terms  as  might 
be. 

Mr.  Attorney  kindled  at  it,  and  said,  "  Mr.  Bacon,  if 
you  have  any  tooth  against  me,  pluck  it  out ;  for  it  will 
do  you  more  hurt  than  all  the  teeth  in  your  head  will  do 
you  good."  I  answered  coldly  in  these  very  words  :  "  Mr. 
Attorney,  I  respect  you,  I  fear  you  not,  and  the  less  you 
speak  of  your  own  greatness,  the  more  I  will  think  of 
it." 

He  replied,  "  I  think  scorn  to  stand  upon  terms  of 
greatness  towards  you,  who  are  less  than  little ;  less  than 
the  least ; "  and  other  such  strange  light  terras  he  gave 
me,  witli  that  insulting  wliich  cannot  be  expressed. 

Herewith  stirred,  yet  I  said  no  more  but  this:  "Mr. 
Attorney,  do  not  depress  me  so  far;  for  I  have  been  your 
better,  and  may  be  again,  wlien  it  please  the  Queen." 

With  this  he  spake,  neither  I  nor  himself  couhl  tell 
what,  as  if  he  had  been  born  Attorney  Genei-al  ;  and  in 
the  end  bade  me  not  meddle  with  the  Queen's  business, 
but  with  mine  own  ;  and  that  I  w;is  unsworn,  etc.  I 
told  him,  Kwoni  or  unswoi-n  was  all  one  to  an  honest 
man  ;  and  that  I  ever  set  my  service  first,  and  myself 
second  ;  and  wished  to  God  that  he  would  do  the  like. 

Then  he  said,  it  were  good  to  clap  a  cap.  utlegatum 
upon  my  back  !  'iV)  which  I  only  said  \w,  could  not  ; 
and  that  lu;  was  at  a  fuult ;  for  he:  luintc*!  upon  an  old 
scent. 


1601.]  LETTER  OF  EXPOSTULATION".  365 

He  gave  me  a  number  of  disgraceful  words  besides; 
which  I  answered  with  silence,  and  shewing  that  I  was 
not  moved  with  them. 

The  threat  of  the  capias  utlegatum  was  probably  in 
reference  to  the  arrest  of  Bacon  for  debt  in  September, 
1598.^  What  the  "  further  request"  may  have  been,  or 
what  the  issue  of  it,  we  have  no  information.  But  it 
appears  from  an  undated  letter  printed  by  Dr.  Rawley 
in  the  "  Resuscitatio "  from  Bacon's  own  register,  and 
suiting  this  occasion  very  well  though  usually  placed  later, 
that  Bacon  thought  it  worth  while  to  address  some  words 
of  expostulation  to  Coke  himself. 

A    LETTER    OF    EXPOSTULATION    TO    THE    ATTORNEY 
GENERAL,   SIR   EDWARD   COKE. 

Mr.  Attorney,  —  I  thought  best,  once  for  all,  to  let 
you  know  in  plainness  what  I  find  of  you,  and  what  you 
shall  find  of  me.  You  take  to  yourself  a  liberty  to  dis- 
grace and  disable  my  law,  ray  experience,  my  discretion. 
What  it  pleaseth  you,  I  pray,  think  of  me  :  I  am  one 
that  knows  both  mine  own  wants  and  other  men's  ;  and 
it  may  be,  perchance,  that  mine  mend,  and  others  stand 
at  a  stay.  And  surely  I  may  not  endure  in  public  place 
to  be  wronged,  without  repelling  the  same  to  my  best 
advantage  to  right  myself.  You  are  great,  and  therefore 
have  the  more  enviers,  which  would  be  glad  to  have  you 
paid  at  another's  cost.  Since  the  time  I  missed  the  So- 
licitor's place  (the  rather  I  think  b}'  your  means)  I  can- 
not expect  that  you  and  I  shall  ever  serve  as  Attorney 
and  Solicitor  together ;  but  either  to  serve  with  another 
upon  your  remove,  or  to  step  into  some  other  course  ;  so 
as  I  am  more  free  than  ever  I  was  from  any  occasion  of 
unworthy  conforming  myself  to  you,  more  than  general 
good  manners  or  your  particular  good  usage  shall  pro- 
1  See  ante,x>-  2-31. 


366  LETTER  OF   EXPOSTULATION.  [Book  IIL 

voke.  And  if  you  had  not  been  shortsighted  in  your  own 
fortune  (;is  I  think)  you  might  have  had  more  use  of 
me.  But  that  tide  is  passed.  I  write  not  this  to  show 
my  friends  what  a  brave  letter  I  have  written  to  Mr. 
Attorney;  I  have  none  of  those  humors.  But  that  I 
have  written  is  to  a  good  end,  that  is,  to  the  more  decent 
carriage  of  my  mistress'  service,  and  to  our  particular 
l)etter  understanding  one  of  another.  This  letter,  if  it 
shall  be  answered  by  you  in  deed,  and  not  in  word,  I  sup- 
pose it  will  not  be  Wdrse  for  us  both.  Else  it  is  but  a 
few  lines  lost,  which  for  a  much  smaller  matter  I  would 
have  adventured.  So  this  being  but  to  yourself,  I  for 
myself  rest. 

Bacon  had  many  grave  objections,  no  doubt,  to  Coke's 
way  of  doing  his  business,  and  on  a  fit  occasion  would 
have  been  ready  to  state  them  ;  but  there  is  no  reason 
for  thinking  that  he  ever  provoked  this  kind  of  treatment 
by  speaking  of  him  either  publicly  or  privately  with  dis- 
respect. Among  the  greatest  admirers  of  Coke  in  mod- 
ern times  there  is  none  who  has  not  admitted  more  to 
his  disadvantage,  both  morally  and  intellectually  (out  of 
his  own  particular  domain),  than  Bacon  ever  alleged  or 
insinuated,  and  within  that  domain  Bacon  never  ques- 
tioned his  preeminence  ;  although  he  hoped,  in  the  course 
of  time,  to  do  something  in  it  himself  that  would  raise 
the  question  with  posterity.  In  the  mean  time  the  tone 
in  which  he  ordinarily  spoke  of  him  as  a  lawyer  may  be 
iiifiMTcd  from  a  joke  preserved  in  Dr.  Ilawley's  common- 
place book  ;  wljich  I  insert  here,  though  a  little  before  its 
true  dat(;.  In  January,  1002-8,  the  Queen  made  eleven 
new  sergeants-at-iaw,  the  last  being  one  Barker,  "for 
whose,  ])r('fermont  Csays  Chamberlain)  the  world  (iiuls  no 
other  reason  but  that,  he  is  Mr.  Att(trney's  brothcr-in- 
Uiw."  ^     "Nay,  if   he,  be   Mr.  Attorney's  brother  in  /a//', 

•  Chambtrlnin' B  Lcltere,  lemp.  KHz.  (C'aiub.  Soc),  P-  177. 


1601.]  ANTHONY  BACON.  867 

he  may  well  be  a  sergeant,"  said  Bacon,  who,  according 
to  Rawley's  story,  was  standing  by.^ 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Bacon  lost  his  brother. 
"Anthony  Bacon,"  says  Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  writ- 
ing on  the  27th  of  May,  1(301,  "died  not  long  since,  but 
so  far  in  debt  that  I  think  his  brother  is  little  the  better 
by  him."  He  had  been  suffering  so  long  and  so  severely 
from  gout  and  stone  that  his  early  death  requires  no 
other  explanation,  though  the  shock  of  mind  which  he 
must  have  felt  from  the  last  proceedings  of  the  Earl  of 
Essex,  and  the  disclosures  consequent  upon  them,  would 
no  doubt  hasten  the  natural  work  of  disease. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  an  inquiry  into  his  life  and 
character,  which  would  indeed  involve  a  review  of  great 
part  of  the  foreign  policy  of  England  during  the  last 
twenty  years  of  the  sixteenth  centur}^ ;  for  he  was  so 
entirely  a  man  of  business  that  to  understand  his  life  it 
would  be  necessary  to  understand  the  business  first.  But 
being  one  of  the  very  few  persons  who  have  looked  into 
the  voluminous  collection  of  his  correspondence  preserved 
at  Lambeth,  having  examined  much  of  it  carefully  and 
turned  over  the  leaves  of  all,  and  come  from  the  perusal 
with  a  tolerably  clear  impression  of  his  personal  char- 
acter,—  though  that  was  not  the  immediate  object  of  my 
inquiry,  —  I  may  as  well  record  it  here  :  the  rather  be- 
cause under  Dr.  Birch's  treatment  the  touches  which  dis- 
close temper,  humor,  and  character  are  mostly  lost  in  the 
process  of  translation  from  the  first  person  into  the  third, 
and  from  the  living  language  of  passion  into  the  proprie- 
ties of  historical  narrative.  But  the  correspondence  in 
its  original  shape  is  fresh  and  lively,  contains  letters  from 

1  Lambeth  MSS.  10.3-1.  Rawlej'  writes  "  Lo.  Coke  "  instead  of  "  Mr.  Attor- 
ney:" not  knowing  the  date.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  was  the 
lime.  Rawley's  story  begins,  "  When  Sergeant  Barker  wair  made  Sergeant, 
my  I.o,  said  there  were  11  Biters  and  one  Barker."  ChaniUcHaiii's  ends,  '•  or 
else  (aj  one  said)  that  among  so  many  biters  there  should  be  one  barker:'' 
which  sounds  like  the  truer  version. 


368  SIR  HENRY  WOTTON'S  STORY.  [Book  III. 

both  parties,  and  ranges  over  fifteen  or  sixteen  years.  It 
is  of  the  most  various  and  miscellaneous  kind :  and 
though  the  collection  (never  perhaps  complete)  has  suf- 
fered from  the  hand  of  time  while  it  lay  packed  out  of 
the  way  in  bundles,  it  has  evidently  suffered  nothing  from 
the  hand  of  selection.  Everything  seems  to  have  been 
kept  that  was  not  lost  or  mislaid.  Letters  from  his 
mother,  with  directions  that  they  should  be  burned  im- 
mediately for  fear  his  men  should  see  them ;  letters  from 
his  steward,  with  details  of  receipt  and  payment ;  letters 
from  intelligencers  abroad,  full  of  political  secrets;  letters 
from  pressing  creditors,  from  wary  purchasers,  from  Pop- 
ish fugitives  and  Protestant  preachers,  from  attached 
patron,  great  acquaintance,  familiar  friends,  kinsmen 
more  or  less  familiar,  grateful  dependants,  lawyers,  states- 
men, doctors,  money-lenders  ;  together  with  his  own 
rough  drafts,  written  to  dictation  :  all  a|)pear  to  have 
been  preserved  and  docketed,  and  arc  now  bound  up  ^o- 
getlier,  not  indeed  in  perfect  order,  for  the  arranger  has 
not  attended  to  the  division  of  the  civil  year,  but  in 
such  order  that  with  a  little  trouble  they  may  be  read 
consecutively.  On  the  authority  of  this  correspondence, 
in  which  it  would  be  hard  for  any  salient  feature  of  the 
character  to  hide  itself,  Anthony  Bacon  may  be  confi- 
dently described  as  a  grave,  assiduous,  energetic,  relig- 
ious man,  with  decided  opinions,  quick  feelings,  warm 
attachments,  and  remarkable  power  of  attaching  others  ; 
a  gentleman  of  high  strain,  open  handed  and  generous 
beyond  his  means;  but  sensitive  and  irrita])le;  a  little 
too  apt  to  suspect,  feel,  and  resent  an  injury  ;  a  little  too 
hasty  to  speak  of  it;  and  occasionally,  I  dare  say,  diivcn 
by  the  perplexities  of  jx'cuniary  embairassment  into  un- 
reasonabU'iiess  and  injiistice;  but  generally  fair,  tolerant, 
and  libci-al.  To  anyixtdy  who  has  gone  through  this  cor- 
respondence the  story  told  in  the  "  Il<'liquia^  Wottoniauic,"' 
of  his  extorting  from  the  Earl  a  present  of  Essex  House 


1601.]  IMPROBABILITY   AND  EXPLANATION   OF   IT.  -SOO 

by  the  "fine  carrying"  of  a  dangerous  secret,  is  simjily 
incredible,  and  only  to  be  accounted  for  as  having  grown 
out  of  some  niisreport  credulously  listened  to  at  the  time, 
as  whisjiered  scandal  commonly  is,  —  imperfectly  recol- 
lected through  the  haze  of  thirty  years,  —  and  pieced  into 
a  smooth  story  by  a  lively  imagination  driving  a  ready 
pen.  That  Essex  had  important  secrets  with  which  An- 
thony Bacon  was  acquainted,  that  he  had  also  extensive 
agencies  which  required  money  to  nourish  them,  and  that 
the  money  was  not  always  ready  at  hand — this  we  know. 
That  in  some  exigency  connected  with  one  of  these  secret 
agencies  a  large  sum  of  money  had  to  be  borrowed  in  a 
hurry  ;  that  Essex  House  was  pledged  to  the  lender  by 
way  of  securit}' ;  that  the  money  passed  (as  it  naturally 
would)  through  Anthony  Bacon's  hand  ;  that  nobody 
knew  what  was  done  with  it,  but  that  (some  rumor  of 
the  transaction  getting  abroad)  it  was  supposed  by  some- 
body that  he  had  obtained  it  for  himself  —  this  we  can 
easily  believe  :  and  the  rest  followed  naturally.  Hoiv  he 
obtained  the  money,  as  no  man  could  know,  except  him- 
self and  the  Earl  and  whatever  confidential  agent  passed 
between  them,  every  man  was  the  more  free  to  guess. 
The  secret  circumstances  would  easily  be  supplied,  and  a 
story  made  up,  which  seemed  probable  enough  to  Wot- 
ton  and  others  who  knew  no  more  of  the  personal  rela- 
tions of  the  two  men  than  he  appears  to  have  done  ;  and 
which  was  accordingly  believed  at  the  time,  and  repeated 
long  after,  —  probably  with  variations  ad  libitum,  —  as 
the  true  history  of  what  passed.  In  this  there  would  be 
nothing  strange.  But  with  our  means  of  information, 
which  are  really  very  much  more  and  better  than  theirs, 
it  is  easier  to  believe  that  Wotton  was  mistaken  than 
that  the  story  lie  tells  was  true. 

As  soon  as  the  depth  and  extent  of  the  Essex  conspiracy 
had  been  well  ascertained,  and  the  principal  leaders  ex- 
ecuted, the  others  were  allowed  to  purchase  their  pardons. 

VOL.  I.  24 


370  THE  QUEEN  AND   THE  MONOPOLIES.  [Book  HI. 

"  There  is  a  commission,"  says  Chamberlain,  27  May, 
1601,  "  to  certain  of  the  Council  to  ransom  and  fine  the 
Lords  and  gentlemen  that  were  in  the  action  ;  and  have 
already  rated  Rutland  at  X  30,000,  Bedford  at  X  20,000, 
Sands  at  £10,000,  Mounteagle  at  X 8,000,  and  Cromwell 
at  .£6,000,  Catesby  at  4,000  marks,"  etc.^  Money  thus 
falling  into  the  Treasury  was  nsually  bestowed  upon  de- 
serving servants  or  favored  suitors  in  the  way  of  reward ; 
and  Bacon  on  this  occasion  came  in  for  a  share.  Out  of 
Catesby's  fine,  <£  1,200  was  assigned  to  him  by  the  Queen's 
order ;  and  on  the  6th  of  August  the  Attorney  General 
received  directions  from  the  Council  to  prepare  an  assur- 
ance accordingly  —  a  fact  of  which  we  owe  the  discovery 
to  ]\Ir.  Jardine.'-^  The  fine,  it  seems,  was  to  be  paid  by 
instalments ;  and  each  instalment  was  to  be  divided  pro 
ratd  among  the  several  assignees. 

In  the  following  October  a  new  Parliament  was  called, 
which  became  famous  for  the  popular  attack  upon  Mo- 
nopolies, and  also  as  the  last  pul)lic  meeting  bct^\een 
Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  people. 

At  the  close  of  the  ])revious  Parliament,  after  the 
Speaker  had  handed  in  the  Subsidy  Bill,  he  proceeded  in 
a  set  speech,  ch-awn  up  for  the  purpose  by  a  committee, 
to  thank  the  Queen  in  the  name  of  the  whole  House  for 
her  "  most  gracious  care  and  favor  in  the  repressing  of 
sundry  inconveniences  and  abuses  practiced  by  Monop- 
olies and  Patents  of  Privileges."  To  which  the  Lord 
Keeper  answered  that  "  Her  Majesty  hoped  that  her 
dutiful  and  loving  subjects  would  not  take  away  her 
Prerogative,  which  was  the  cliiefest  flower  in  lier  gar- 
den and  the  principal  and  head-jiearl  iu  her  (;rawn  and 
diadem,  but  that  they  would  rather  ieavt;  tliat  to  her 
disixjsilion.     And  as  her  Majesty  had  proceeded  to  trial 

1  CItavibirltiin's  Litti.rs,  p.  108. 

2  N'lrrntlrf.  of  the.  (innjtiniylvr  Plot  (1857),  p.  31.    The  letter  from  the  Couiu'il 
18  printed  in  Dixon'H  Personal  f/Utoi-y  of  Lord  Bacon,  p.  125. 


ICOl.J  TEIE  QUEEN   AND  THE  MONOPOLIES.  371 

of  them  already,  so  she  promised  to  continue  that  they 
should  all  be  examined,  to  abide  the  trial  and  true  touch- 
stone of  the  law." 

This  was  on  the  9th  of  February,  1597-8,  and  was  an 
answer  satisfactory  for  the  time.  But  even  if  the  Queen 
was  in  her  own  judgment  fully  alive  to  the  evil  and  dan- 
ger of  these  abuses,  and  in  her  own  inclination  really 
desirous  to  be  rid  of  them,  she  was  not  likely  to  pursue 
the  inquiry  very  zealously  just  then.  Postponement  of 
decisive  action  as  long  as  the  matter  would  bear  post- 
ponement, which  in  her  youth  she  had  dehberatelj'^  prac- 
ticed as  a  politic  art  to  keep  enemies  holding  off  and 
friends  holding  on,  had  grown  into  a  habit  which  she 
could  hardly  overcome  when  it  was  most  her  interest  to 
do  ,so ;  and  at  this  time  she  had  businesses  on  hand  of 
more  pressing  importance.  Henry  IV.  of  France  was 
negotiating  a  separate  treaty  of  peace  with  Philip,  which 
would  increase  the  danger  of  England  from  Spain,  and 
she  was  sending  Sir  Robert  Cecil  over  to  remonstrate. 
That  treaty  being,  in  spite  of  her  remonstrances,  soon 
after  concluded,  the  great  question  of  peace  or  war  with 
Spain  pressed  for  a  resolution,  and  divided  her  council 
table.  In  the  mean  time  the  condition  of  Ireland  was  be- 
coming every  day  more  alarming,  and  threatened  to  ab- 
sorb the  most  liberal  grant  ever  voted  b}^  Parliament  as 
fast  as  the  money  came  in.  With  one  "  whose  nature 
was  not  to  resolve  but  to  delay,"  ^  these  cares  and  alarms 
would  be  enough  to  keep  the  monopoly  question  in  the 
waiting-room,  without  supposing  any  deliberate  intention 
to  evade  it.  Nor  was  the  removal  of  the  abuse  quite  so 
simple  a  matter,  perhaps,  as  it  seemed  to  people  unac- 
quainted with  the  exigencies  of  the  Government  and  the 
state  of  the  Exchequer.  Elizabeth  is  charged  with  a  dis- 
like of  spending  mone3^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^P^  "o  private  hoard  : 
;vhat  she  did  spend  she  spent  all  upon  public  objects  : 
1  R.  Cecil  in  a  conversation  with  Lady  Bacon 


3(2  Tin:  queen  and  the  monopolies.  [Book  III. 

and  in  order  to  meet  those  objects,  even  with  a  regard 
to  economy  which  is  now  thought  unworthy  of  a  Queen, 
she  was  forced  to  call  upon  her  people  for  contributions 
far  beyond  all  precedent.  It  should  never  be  forgotten 
that  during  the  first  twenty-seven  years  of  her  reign  a 
single  subsidy  had  never  served  for  less  then  four  years  : 
during  the  next  ten  it  had  never  served  for  more  than 
two :  then  came  three  whole  subsidies  payable  in  four 
years  ;  and  now  three  payable  in  three ;  and  all  likely  to 
be  less  than  enough.  This  was  not  a  convenient  time 
for  giving  up  an  independent  source  of  income :  for  to 
depend  upon  other  people  for  anything  which  she  could 
not  do  without  —  this  she  did  really  dislike.  Now,  by 
granting  monopoly-patents  she  could  reward  servants 
without  either  spending  her  own  money,  or  laying  her- 
self under  obligations  to  Parliament,  or  exposing  herself 
to  complaints  from  an3'body  in  particular ;  whereas  to  call 
in  those  already  granted  would  bring  a  host  of  trouble- 
some complainants  about  hei*.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered, 
therefore,  tliat  while  the  struggle  in  Ireland,  beginning 
as  it  did  with  a  costly  failure  and  still  far  from  its  termi- 
nation, was  drawing  upon  her  resources  at  the  rate  of 
more  than  £800,000  a  year,  the  inquiry  into  these  pat- 
ents was  allowed  to  wait  until  the  fast  approaching  ne- 
cessity of  another  Parliamentary  grant  reminded  her  of 
her  ])arting  promise. 

Tiiis  necessity  began  to  be  felt  in  October,  1600:  and 
in  the  begiiming  of  Ilihiry  Term  (28  January,  lGOO-1) 
she  gave  orders  to  Coke  and  Fleming  to  "  take  spetnly 
and  K|)ccial  courses"  for  Ihciii.  liut  Ix'fore  they  were 
well  eiit(M-<'d  (»n  the  business,  tliey  were  interrupted  by 
tlu!  inHurrc(ttion  of  llie  I'>arl  of  ICssex  and  the.  ])roceedings 
conHef|ueiit  upon  it,  which  kept  them  busy  till  the  sum- 
men'  vacation.  And  Ix-fon;  the  vacation  was  over,  a  v.vmfi 
occurred  whirli  nnide  it  advi.sal)l(!  to  summon  ParliauKMit 
without  delay.      On    the  28(1  of    September,  Don   Juan 


IGOL]  NEW  PARLIAMENT.  373 

d'Aquilii,  with  4,000  men,  three  parts  of  them  being  of 
the  best  soldiers  in  Spain,  landed  on  the  southern  coast 
of  Ireland,  occupied  Kinsale,  and  proclaimed  the  Queen 
deprived  of  her  crown  by  the  Pope's  sentence,  her  sub- 
jects thereby  absolved  from  their  allegiance,  and  himself 
come  "  to  deliver  Ireland  from  the  jaws  of  the  Devil :" 
a  crisis  well  fitted  to  stimulate  the  loyalty  of  an  English 
Parliament,  and  dispose  them  to  vote  supplies  freely  with- 
out standing  too  obstinately  upon  domestic  differences 
which  could  wait  for  times  of  more  leisure. 

The  new  Parliament  met  on  the  27th  of  October,  and 
was  opened  by  the  Queen  in  person  with  the  usual  for- 
malities, and  a  speech  from  the  Lord  Keeper.  To  the 
Lower  House  (the  members  of  which  during  the  Lord 
Keeper's  speech  had  been  by  some  mismanagement  shut 
out),  the  causes  of  their  meeting  —  which  were  in  fact 
nothing  more  than  to  provide  means  of  defense  against 
the  present  and  threatened  dangers  —  were  set  forth  at 
large  by  Sir  R.  Cecil,  on  the  3d  of  November :  where- 
upon, immediately  and  without  any  debate,  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  meet  on  the  7th,  to  consider  the  case. 

The  four  intervening  days  were  occupied  with  bills 
brought  in  or  motions  made  by  private  members  :  among 
which  there  are  two  which  still  retain,  in  consideration 
of  the  mover,  some  little  interest  for  us. 

It  seems  that  the  House  was  not  disposed  to  pay  much 
attention  to  tlie  business  thus  brought  before  it.  Several 
bills  were  read  and  rejected,  some  read  and  ordered  to  be 
engrossed  ;  but  none  discussed:  as  if  the  money  bill  had 
been  their  only  serious  business.  Now  in  Bacon's  opin- 
ion it  was  important  to  the  healtli  of  the  relation  between 
Crown  and  Parliament,  that  Parliament  should  never 
seem  to  be  called  for  money  only,  but  always  for  some 
other  business  of  estate  besides.  And  the  case  being  now 
much  the  same  as  in  1593,^  he  endeavored  in  the  same 

1  See  ante,  p.  75. 


374    MOTION  FOR   REPEAL  OF   SUPERFLUOUS  LAWS.  [Book  ML 

way,  by  interposing  a  discussion  on  some  topic  o£  popular 
and  legislative  character,  to  cover  the  nakedness  of  the 
appeal  for  pecuniary  help.  The  supply  committee  was 
to.  meet  on  Saturday,  the  7th,  and  on  Thursday,  as  we 
learn  from  Townshend,  to  whose  notes  we  are  indebted 
for  almost  all  we  know  of  the  debates  during  Elizabeth's 
four  last  Parliaments,  "  Mr.  Bacon  stood  up  to  prefer  a 
new  bill  "  against  abuses  in  weights  and  measures. 

The  next  day  (November  6),  — apparently  with  the 
same  object  of  awakening  the  House  to  a  due  sense  of  its 
proper  business,  and  asserting  its  position  as  a  legislative 
assembly,  —  he  mad©  a  motion  like  that  which  he  had 
seconded  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  Parliament,  a  mo- 
tion for  a  committee  to  repeal  superfluous  laws. 

I  do  not  find  that  these  motions  had  any  "  better  suc- 
cess or  entertainment"  than  the  others.  The  last  raised 
no  discussion  at  the  time,  and  merged  ultimately,  as  the 
similar  motion  in  1597  had  done,  in  an  ordinary  "  con- 
tinuance act."  The  Weights  and  Measures  Bill  was 
read  a  second  time  the  next  day,  and  upon  some  objec- 
tions in  details  summarily  thrown  out.  Upon  the  ques- 
tion for  committing,  there  were,  says  Townshend,  "  some 
twelve  I,  I,  I,  but  not  one  for  the  engrossing  ;  but  all  said 
No.     So  it  was  rejected.  " 

The  truth  is,  I  fancy,  that  the  House  was  in  as  great 
a  hurry  to  get  tiie  nect'ssary  supplies  voted,  as  the  Queen 
was  to  receive  tliem  ;  and  that  they  couUl  not  attend  with 
Bpii'it  to  anything  els(^  until  tlu^^^  had  seen  that  business 
safely  thi'ough.  The  Spaniards  were;  besieged,  it  is  true, 
in  Kinsalt'  by  land,  and  sliips  had  l)een  sent  to  cut  off 
their  snpj)lit'S  by  sea;  and  "-many  of  our  diseoursera," 
Bays  C'hamberlain,  '' gave  tiiem  for  lost,  and  mad(^  it  a 
matter  of  case  to  defeat  them  by  sickness,  famine,  or  the 
BWf)rd  ;  "  but  they  were  still  then;  ;  and  Tyrone  was  ap- 
proaching fn^n  the;  North  with  a  forc(!  almost  as  large  as 
the  besieging  army.    It  may  easily  be  believed,  therefore. 


1601.]  LARGE  SUPPLIES  READILY   GRANTED.  375 

that  to  provide  whatever  was  necessary  for  their  speedy 
capture  or  expulsion  seemed  to  the  House  tlie  one  busi- 
ness to  which  for  the  present  all  others  must  be  post- 
poned. It  is  certain  that  they  acted  in  the  matter  as  if 
they  thought  so.  And  as  soon  as  Bacon's  Weights  and 
Measures  Bill  was  disposed  of,  this  was  tlie  next  business 
that  came  on. 

Sir  Walter  Ralegh  led  the  way,  and  though  the  dis- 
cussion lasted  into  the  dark,  it  appears  to  have  turned 
entirely  upon  matters  of  detail.  To  the  amount  of  the 
grant  —  an  amount  quite  unprecedented  —  there  are  no 
traces  of  opposition  from  any  quarter.  Opinions  differed 
upon  the  mode  of  distribution,  and  in  particular  upon  the 
question  whether  the  "  three-pound  men  "  should  be  in- 
chided.  But  a  grant  of  four  whole  subsidies,  with  eight 
fifteens  and  tens,  —  the  first  to  be  paid  all  at  once  next 
February,  the  others  each  in  divided  payments  at  half- 
yearly  intervals,  the  whole  therefore  payable  within  three 
years  and  a  half,  —  was  agreed  on  in  Committee  that 
same  Saturday  afternoon  ;  and  on  Monday  in  the  House, 
after  some  further  discussion  of  details,  "  the  Speaker  ap- 
pointed the  Committees  for  drawing  of  the  Subsidy  Bill, 
—  all  to  hasten  it ;  and  so  the  House  arose." 

All  this  time,  not  a  murmur  of  discontent  is  to  be 
traced  in  the  journals  ;  not  an  allusion  to  monopolies  ; 
not  a  mention  of  conditions  or  reciprocal  concessions ; 
but  all  was  going  so  rapidly  and  smoothly  that  one  of 
the  members  thought  it  necessary  to  remind  the  House 
that  tliey  had  as  yet  done  nothing  else,  and  to  express  a 
hope  "  that  her  IMajesty  would  not  dissolve  the  Parlia- 
ment till  some  acts  were  passed. "  On  the  part  of  the 
Government  what  little  it  was  necessary  to  say  was  said 
by  Sir  R.  Cecil :  and  the  only  observation  of  Bacon's 
which  is  reported  is  in  favor  of  the  non-exemption  of 
"  the  three-pound  men :  "  upon  which,  concurring  with 
the  majority  of  the  Committee,  he    concluded  "  it  waa 


376  LARGE    SUPPLIES   READILY   GRANTED.  [Huok  HL 

dulcis  tractus  jyari  jugo  :  and  therefore  the  poor  as  well 
as  the  rich  not  to  be  exempted." 

What  makes  the  unanimity  of  the  House  in  this  mat- 
ter the  more  remarkable  is,  that  their  hearts  were  all  the 
while  full  of  serious  discontent  with  the  Government,  on 
account  of  the  still  growing  grievance  of  monopolies ;  that 
they  had  come  up  from  all  parts  of  the  country  charged 
with  complaint  and  remonstrance ;  and  that  the  feeling, 
when  it  found  utterance  at  last,  was  general  enough  and 
strong  enough  to  silence  all  expressions  of  dissent,  if  any 
dissent  existed.  It  is  curious  also  to  observe,  in  an  as- 
sembly so  miscellaneous  and  not  very  orderly  in  its  de- 
bates, how  slow  this  feeling  was  in  finding  a  tongue. 
After  the  subsidy  question  had  been  settled  on  the  9th 
of  November,  there  was  no  more  lack  of  debating.  Ques- 
tions of  various  kinds  —  including  a  point  of  privilege 
which  brought  them  into  collision  with  the  Lord  Keeper, 
and  a  Bill  against  Pluralities  of  Benefices  which  touched 
the  Prerogative  —  were  largely  and  noisily  discussed. 
But  it  was  not  till  the  18th  that  a  word  seems  to  have 
been  uttered  about  Monopoly-Patents  ;  nor  does  any  ac- 
tion on  that  subject  appear  to  have  been  expected  by 
the  public  outside.  "  The  Parliament,"  says  Chamber- 
lain, writing  on  the  14tli,  "huddles  in  high  mattei's : 
only  they  have  had  a  cast  at  Osborne's  office,  to  correct 
and  amend  it  at  least ;  but  there  is  no  great  hoj)e  of  suc- 
cess. The  Alpha  and  Omega  is  concluded  already.  I 
mean  the  giant  of  four  subsidies  and  eight  fifteens."  ' 

Now  '•'■  Osl)orne's  office"  was  not  one  of  the  nionopoK- 
palrnts,  but  the  oHiof!  of  Treasurer's  Iiemeiidiranc-er  in 
the  JCxcli('(juer,  in  which  it  secMus  that  ahuses  liad  been 
found.  A  bill  on  the  subject  had  been  brought  in,  and 
was  then  undei-  refei-cnce  to  a  (committee,  whose  report 
was  brought  U])  by  Bacon  on  ihe  1  Sth,  after  which  the 
oil  I  was  read  a  first  time. 

1    Cnmd.  f<,ir.  P„bl.,  p.  122. 


1601.]  THE  COMMONS  AND   THE  MONOPOUES.  377 

So  far,  everything  had  been  going  as  sweetly  as  possi- 
ble for  the  Queen.  But  shortly  after  Bacon  had  delivered 
his  bill  to  the  sergeant,  symptoms  of  the  smothered  fire, 
the  significance  of  which  appears  to  have  been  well  un- 
derstood at  headquarters,  found  their  way  to  the  sur- 
face. 

As  the  course  of  proceeding  is  not  very  clearly  ex- 
plained, I  give  the  passage  in  the  very  words  of  Town- 
shend,  who  was  no  doubt  an  eye  and  ear  witness  of  what 
took  place. 

"  Mr.  Dyott,  of  the  Inner  Temple,  said :  Mr.  Speaker,  there 
be  many  commodities  within  this  realm,  which,  being  public 
for  the  benefit  of  every  particular  subject,  are  monopolized  by 
Patent  from  her  Majesty,  only  for  the  good  and  private  gain 
of  one  man.  To  remedy  the  abuses  of  those  kind  of  Patents, 
which  are  granted  for  a  good  intent  by  her  Majesty,  I  am,  Mr. 
Speaker,  to  otFer  to  the  consideration  of  yourself  and  this  House 
an  Act  against  Patents  purporting  particular  power  to  be  given 
to  sundry  Patentees,  etc.     It  hath  a  very  long  title. 

'•  Mr.  Laurence  Hide,  of  the  Middle  Temple,  said :  I  would, 
Mr.  Speaker,  only  move  you  to  have  an  Act  read,  containing 
but  twelve  lines.  It  is  an  exposition  of  the  Common  Law 
touching  these  kind  of  Patents,  commonly  called  monopolies." 

The  move  seems  to  have  been  unexpected.  For,  if 
Townshend's  note  may  be  trusted,  it  was  received  at  the 
time  in  silence  ;  the  House  proceeding  at  once  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  another  bill,  on  a  different  subject, — a  bill 
about  which  there  was  "much  dispute."  From  what 
happened  after,  it  may  be  suspected  that  this  was  con- 
trived with  the  Speaker's  concurrence  by  Cecil,  in  order 
to  evade  or  postpone  the  dangerous  question.  But  though 
it  had  lain  quiet  so  long,  it  could  not  when  once  raised  be 
laid  again.  And  (strangely  enough)  the  member  who 
brought  it  up  afresh  was  a  man  officially  connected  with 
the  Government.  The  other  bill  having  been,  "  after 
much  dispute,"  committed,  and  the  House  being  engaged 


378  THE  COMMONS  AND   THE  MONOPOLIES.       [I}.h)k  III. 

in  naming  tiio  Committees,  "  Mr.  Downalde,"  ^  we  are 
told,  "  the  Lord  Keeper's  secretary,  stood  up,  and  de- 
sired that  the  Bill  Avhich  Mr.  Hide  called  for  touching 
Patents  might  be  read."  The  Speaker  desired  him  to 
wait  till  the  Committees  were  named :  after  that,  he  said, 
he  might  speak.  But  I  suppose  Cecil  saw  in  the  face  of 
the  House  that  the  question  would  have  to  be  met,  and 
felt  that  he  must  contrive  to  get  his  instructions  before 
it  came  on.  And  therefore,  while  they  were  proceeding 
with  the  naming  of  the  Committees,  he  "spake  some- 
thing in  Mr.  Speaker's  ear  : "  who,  as  soon  as  the  time 
and  place  of  commitment  were  named,  immediately  rose, 
"  without  further  hearing  Mr.  Downalde :  "  and  so  the 
House  adjourned.  Whether  Cecil's  whisper  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  it,  I  do  not  know ;  but  some  irregularity 
there  clearly  was.  And  that  may  be  the  reason  why 
D'Ewes  (not  understanding  perhaps  how  it  could  have 
happened  according  to  the  usages  of  the  House)  omits 
this  whole  passage,  as  related  in  that  private  journal  of 
which  he  otherwise  makes  such  large  use,  and  gives 
merely  the  entries  from  the  "original  joui-nal-book  of 
the  House,"  —  which  contain  no  hint  of  it.  Neverthe- 
less, when  we  read  further  that  ]\Ir.  Downalde  took  the 
Speaker's  conduct  "in  gi-cat  disgrace,  and  told  him  he 
would  complain  of  him  the  next  sitting;  to  which  the 
Speaker  answered  nf)t  out;  word,  but  looked  earnestly  on 
liim,  and  so  the  ])ress  of  p<'(»])le  parted  them,"  we  need 
not  doubt  that  th(!  note  was  taken  from  the  lift!. 

Neither  need  we  doubt  that  Kli/ahcth  kncnv  that  same 
evcjiing  whiit.  had  passed,  and  made  up  her  mind  for 
wiiat  was  coining.  For  lOliz-aheth,  though  she  often 
seemed  to  venture  into  dangerous  positions  a.nd  to  run 
great  risks,  knew  liow  to  nu^asure  her  own  forces,  and 
always  kept  some  course  in  reserve  upon  wliich  she.  might 
full  baek  in  an  (inuM-gency.  If  her  ministers  could  hold 
'  Gforgc  I)owiiliall,  I  presume,  member  for  Lauiicestou. 


I 


1601.]  BILL  DECLARING  MONOPOLIES  ILLEGAL.  379 

the  ground  for  her,  it  was  best.  If  not,  she  could  still 
come  herself. 

On  this  occasion  she  had  a  day's  respite.  Thursday, 
the  19th,  was  occupied  wnth  matters  in  which  the  House 
always  took  an  eager  interest,  and  spoke  with  many 
tongues.  A  burgess  elect,  being  stopped  on  his  way  up 
to  London,  had  "  sent  up  his  solicitor  to  follow  his  causes 
in  law,"  etc.  The  solicitor  had  been  aiTested  at  the 
suit  of  a  tailor,  and  carried  prisoner  to  Newgate ;  where 
"after  a  discharo;e  E^otten  because  he  said  he  served  a 
Parliament-man,  he  was  no  sooner  discharged,  but  straight 
he  was  again  arrested  and  carried  to  the  Compter,  and 
there  lay  all  night,  until  he  sent  to  the  Sergeant-at-arms, 
who  fetched  him  out  and  kept  him  in  his  custody."  The 
question  was  whether  this  were  a  breach  of  privilege ; 
inasmuch  as  the  master  had  not  taken  the  oaths  ;  and  it 
was  not  till  after  much  examination,  reexamination,  dis- 
cussion, and  consultation,  that  the  solicitor  was  ordered 
to  be  discharged,  and  the  tailor  and  his  officers  to  pay  all 
fees,  and  undergo  three  days'  imprisonment.  Immedi- 
ately upon  this  came  a  report  of  proceedings  in  another 
privilege  question  of  higher  interest,  —  the  question  pend- 
ing between  the  House  and  the  Lord  Keeper.  Mr.  Sec- 
retary Herbert  had  delivered  their  message  to  his  Lord- 
ship, who  had  replied  that  upon  consideration  of  "  the 
weightiness  of  divers  businesses  now  in  hand,"  etc.,  "  he 
would  not  now  stand  to  make  contention,"  but  "  would 
be  most  ready  and  willing  to  perform  the  desire  of  the 
House." 

All  this  was  satisfactory ;  but  it  consumed  time  ;  and 
nothing  more  was  said  about  the  monopolies  that  day.  On 
Friday,  however,  the  20th,  though  not  till  after  a  long 
debate  on  a  Bill  against  willful  absence  from  Church, 
and  the  hearing  of  another  complaint  from  a  member 
whose  man  had  been  arrested  on  his  way  up  to  London, 
the  great  question  at  last  forced  its  way  into  the  front. 


380  BILL  DECLAUING  MONOl'OUKS   ILLEGAL.        [Book  IIL 

"The  Speaker,"  says  Townshead,  "gave  the  Clerk  a 
Bill  to  read.  And  the  House  called  for  the  Checquer 
Bill :  some  said  Yea,  and  some  said  JVo,  and  a  great  noise 
there  was. 

"  At  last  Mr.  Laurence  Hide  said :  '  To  end  this  con- 
troversy, because  the  time  is  very  short,  I  would  move 
the  House  to  have  a  very  short  bill  read ;  eutituled  An 
Act  for  Explanation  of  the  Common  Law  in  certain  cases 
of  Letters  Patents'     And  all  the  House  cried  I,  I,  I." 

The  long  silence  being  at  length  broken,  the  cry  of 
grievance  found  no  want  of  tongues,  and  seems  to  have 
been  felt  from  the  first  to  be  irresistible  :  for  though  some 
of  the  members  must  have  been  personally  interested  in 
the  monopolies,  not  a  voice  was  raised  in  defense  of  them. 
A  difference  of  opinion  no  doubt  there  was;  but  it  turned 
wholly  upon  t\i&form  of  the  proposed  proceeding  for  re- 
dress. In  the  object  of  the  measure,  namely,  to  obtain 
relief  from  the  grievance,  all  parties  were  prepared  to 
concur.  Nor  was  the  disputed  point  of  form  material  to 
that  object,  though  very  material  in  other  ways.  For 
the  remedy  proposed  by  the  Bill  was  to  declare  these 
Patents  illegal  by  the  Common  Law.  Now  since  they 
had  been  granted  in  virtue  of  a  Prerogative  which  was  at 
that  time  confidently  assumed,  asserted,  and  exercised,  as 
indisputably  belonging  to  the  Crown  ;  which,  though  not 
jtcrluips  wholly  undisputed,  was  freely  allowed  by  a  large 
body  of  respectable  opinion  ;  and  which  liad  not  as  yet 
been  disallowed  by  any  authority  that  could  claim  to  be 
(Uicisivi' ;  it  was  now  no  longer  the  monopolies,  but  the 
Prerogative  itself,  that  was  in  question.  It  was  like  one 
of  the  (;ases  of  privilege  with  which  the  House  had  just 
been  dealing.  As  the  arrest  of  a  debtor,  though  by  a 
process  strictly  legal,  was  a  breach  of  privilegi'  if  the 
debtor  w;is  servant  to  a  member,  so  the  taking  away  of 
l*at(!nts  l)y  Act  of  Parliament  was  an  invasion  of  Prerog- 
ative if  tbey  had    been   granted  by  a   right    constitution- 


1601.]  LETTERS  PATENTS.  381 

ally  belonging  to  the  Crown.  And  as  the  House  would 
certainly  have  denied  the  right  of  the  tailor  to  dispute 
the  legality  of  their  privilege,  so  might  the  Queen  deny 
the  right  of  the  House  to  dispute  the  constitutionality  of 
her  Prerogative.  Nor  indeed  except  by  implication  was 
such  a  right  now  asserted.  The  question  was  not  wheth- 
er the  House  might  meddle  with  the  Prerogative,  but 
whether  this  Bill  did.  And  it  is  a  notable  fact  that  as 
the  stoutest  champions  of  the  Prerogative  disclaimed  all 
wish  to  uphold  monopolies,  so  the  most  eager  assailants 
of  monopoly  disclaimed  all  intention  of  questioning  the 
Prerogative. 

Cecil  said  nothing.  He  had  been  excused  the  day  be- 
fore from  going  up  with  a  Bill  to  the  Lords,  "  because  he 
was  troubled  with  a  cold :  "  and  perhaps  he  had  not  re- 
covered his  voice.  But  after  a  speech  from  the  member 
for  Warwick,  which  was  not  so  much  against  the  legal- 
ity of  the  Patents  as  against  the  proceedings  of  the  Pat- 
entees' deputies  ;  and  against  those  proceedings,  rather 
as  transgressing  the  commission  than  as  taken  in  virtue 
of  it.  Bacon  rose  to  speak  against  the  Bill.  And  for  a 
note  of  the  tenor  of  his  speech  we  are  again  indebted  to 
Townshend. 

SPEECH  IN  THE  HOUSE  AGAINST  A  BILL  FOK  THE 
EXPLANATION  OF  THE  COMMON  LAW  IN  CERTAIN 
CASES    OF   LETTERS    PATENTS. 

"  The  gentleman  that  last  spake  coasted  so  for  and 
against  the  Bill,  that  for  my  own  part,  not  well  hearing 
him,  I  did  not  well  understand  him.  The  Bill,  as  it  is, 
is  in  few  words ;  but  yet  ponderous  and  weighty. 

"  For  the  prerogative  royal  of  the  Prince,  for  my  own 
part  I  ever  allowed  of  it :  and  it  is  such  as  I  hope  I  shall 
never  see  discussed.  The  Queen,  as  she  is  our  Sovereign, 
hath  both  an  enlarging  and  restraining  liberty  of  her 
Pierogative:  that  is,  she  hath  power  by  her  Patents  to 


382  BACON   OX   THE  MONOPOLY  QUESTION.        [Bouk  HI 

set  at  liberty  things  restrained  by  statute  law  or  other- 
wise :  secondly,  by  her  Prerogative  she  may  restrain 
things  that  are  at  liberty. 

"  For  the  first :  she  raa}'  grant  non  ohstantes  contrary 
to  the  penal  laws;  which  truly,  in  ray  conscience  (and  so 
struck  himself  on  the  breast),  are  as  hateful  to  the  sub- 
ject as  monopolies. 

"  For  the  second :  if  any  man,  out  of  his  own  wit,  in- 
dustry, or  endeavor,  find  out  anything  beneficial  to  the 
Commonwealth,  or  bring  any  new  invention  which  every 
subject  of  this  kingdom  may  use ;  yet  in  regard  of  his 
pains  and  travel  therein,  her  Majesty  perhaps  is  pleased 
to  grant  him  a  privilege  to  use  the  same  only  by  himself 
or  his  deputies  for  a  certain  time.  This  is  one  kind  of 
monopoly.  Sometimes  there  is  a  glut  of  things,  when 
they  be  in  excessive  quantity,  as  perhaps  of  corn;  and 
perhaps  her  Majesty  gives  license  of  transportation  to 
one  man.  This  is  another  kind  of  monopoly.  Some- 
times there  is  a  scarcity  or  a  small  quantity;  and  the  like 
is  granted  also. 

"  These,  and  divers  of  this  nature,  have  been  in  trial, 
both  at  the  Common  Pleas  u})on  action  of  trespass  ; 
where,  if  the  Judges  do  find  the  privilege  good  and  bene- 
ficial for  tiie  Commonwealth  tliey  will  then  allow  it, 
otherwise  disallow  it ;  and  also  I  know  that  her  Majesty 
herself  hath  given  commandment  to  lu-r  Attorney  Gen- 
(Miil  to  bring  divers  of  them,  since  th(»  last  Parliament, 
to  trial  in  lier  Ex;ch(!f[U(!r.  Since  which  tinn^  at  least  fif- 
t(.'en  or  sixteen,  of  mv  knowledge,  have  been  repealed  ; 
sonif"  upiiii  hci-  M;ijcsty"s  own  (express  commandment, 
ni)(>M  ci)mj)liiint  made  unto  her  Majesty  by  petition;  and 
sojne  i)y  rjHo  wnrraiito  in  tlii^  Kxi'hcquer. 

"Hut,  Mr.  SjHtakcr  (said  he,  pointing  to  th(^  Bill),  this 
is  no  stranger  in  this  plaf(>:  bnt  a  stranger  in  this  vest- 
ment. Tiuf  us(;  hath  been  over  by  ])etition  to  inimble 
oursolvea  to  ]n!r  Majesty,  and  by  jx'Lition  desire  to  have 


1601. J  BACON  ON   THE  MONOPOLY  QUESTION.  383 

our  grievances  redressed ;  especially  when  the  remedy 
toucbeth  her  so  nigh  in  point  of  Prerogative.  All  can- 
not be  done  at  once  ;  neither  was  it  possible  since  the 
last  Parliament  to  repeal  all. 

"  If  her  Majesty  make  a  patent,  or,  as  we  term  it,  a  mo- 
nopoly, unto  any  of  her  servants,  that  must  go  and  we  cry 
out  of  it :  but  if  she  grants  it  to  a  number  of  burgesses 
or  a  corporation,  that  must  stand ;  and  that  forsooth  is 
no  monopoly. 

"  I  say,  and  I  say  again,  that  we  ought  not  to  deal  or 
judge  or  meddle  with  her  Majesty's  Prerogative.  I  wish 
every  man  therefore  to  be  careful  in  this  point ;  and 
humbly  pray  this  House  to  testify  with  me  that  I  have 
discharged  my  duty  in  respect  of  my  place  in  speaking 
on  her  Majesty's  behalf ;  and  protest  I  have  delivered 
my  conscience  in  saying  that  which  I  have  said." 

The  question,  therefore,  was  reduced  simply  to  this : 
Should  they  proceed  by  Bill  or  by  Petition  ?  In  the 
course  of  the  warm  and  very  free-spoken  debate  which 
followed,  two  or  three  members  expressed  a  decided 
opinion  for  proceeding  by  Bill,  on  the  ground  that  the 
proceeding  by  Petition  had  been  tried  last  Parliament 
and  done  no  good ;  others  expressed  a  decided  opinion 
against  it.  But  the  general  feeling  of  the  House  seems 
to  have  been  in  favor  of  committing  the  Bill,  "  in  order 
to  devise  a  course:  "  the  question  as  to  the  mode  of  pro- 
ceeding being  therefore  left  open.  So  it  was  agreed  that 
they  should  go  into  Committee  on  it  the  next  afternoon. 

One  point,  however,  this  first  debate  had  settled.  It 
had  revealed  the  temper  of  the  House  and  the  Country 
on  the  subject,  and  showed  the  Queen  that  if  her  Prerog- 
ative was  to  continue  unquestioned  she  must  not  allow  it 
to  be  approached  in  that  temper  from  that  side.  As  yet 
she  stood  personally  disengaged ;  not  having  committed 
herself   in  the  matter,  except    in    professing   intentions 


dSi  BACON  ON    TIIK  MONOPOLY  QUESTION.  [U.iuk  III. 

Avliieh  slio  liad  neglected  to  curry  out.  She  had  no  diffi- 
culty, therefore,  in  taking  the  position  which  the  time 
required :  and  made  her  arrangements  at  once,  I  suppose, 
with  that  view.  The  Prerogative  was  not  to  be  meddled 
with  :  upon  that  point  she  was  not  going  to  make  any 
concession.  But  the  Patents  themselves  might  every 
one,  if  necessary,  go  overboard ;  and  that  would  be 
enough,  if  handsomely  done. 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  November  21,  the  Committee 
met  according  to  appointment.  Cecil  was  still  silent ; 
and  Bacon  was  again  the  chief  speaker  on  the  side  of  the 
Government.  The  general  objection,  which  he  had  al- 
ready urged,  and  which  would  have  applied  to  ani/  bill 
for  such  a.purpose,  he  repeated  ;  adding  a  particular  ob- 
jection applicable  to  this  particular  bill,  which  nobody 
seems  to  have  attempted  to  answer ;  and  which  was  in 
fact,  I  should  think,  unanswerable.  Tlie  note  of  his 
speech,  which  contains  all  we  know  about  it,  does  not 
read  like  a  very  good  report ;  but  the  argument  is  intel- 
ligible enough. 

SPEECH  IN  COMMITTEE  AGAINST  A  BILL  FOR  EXPLA- 
NATION OF  THE  COMMON  LAW  IN  CERTAIN  CASES 
OF  LETTERS   PATENTS. 

"  The  Bill  is  very  injurious  and  ridiculous  :  injurious, 
in  that  it  taketh  or  rather  sweepoth  away  her  Majesty's 
Prerogative  ;  and  ridiculous,  in  tliat  there  is  a  proviso 
that  this  statute  shouhl  not  extend  to  grants  made  to 
Corporations.  That  is  a  gull  to  sweeten  the  IVil]  withal; 
it  is  only  to  make  fools  fain.  All  men  of  tlic  hiw  know 
that  a  Bill  wliich  is  only  expository  to  expound  the  Com- 
mon Law  dotli  enact  notliing :  neither  is  any  proviso 
good  therein.  And  therefore  the  proviso  in  the  statute 
of  34  Hen.  VIII.  of  Wills  Cwhicli  is  l)iit  a  statute  expos- 
itory of  tlie  statute  of  .32  Hen.  VIH.  of  Wills),  tonching 
Sir  Jolni  (lainsford's  will,  was  adjndgeil  void.     Thercifore 


1601.1  TOWNSHEND'S  MOTION.  385 

I  think  the  Bill  unfit,  and  our  proceedings  to  be  by  Pe- 
tition." 

Here  again  the  true  question  was  proposed  in  its  sim- 
ple terms  ;  but  the  Committee  could  not  keep  within  it. 
An  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Solicitor  General  to  make 
the  Queen's  case  clearer,  by  explaining  what  she  had 
done  in  the  matter  since  the  last  Parliament,  what  she 
had  intended  to  do,  and  why  she  had  done  no  more, 
roused  one  of  the  members  for  Middlesex  to  produce  a 
long  list  of  Patents  granted  since  the  last  Parliament ;  the 
reading  of  which  provoked  the  famous  question  "  whether 
Bread  was  not  among  them,"  and  was  followed  by  a 
state  of  excitement  tending  to  no  definite  resolution, — 
when  Townshend  himself,  "  seeing  that  the  Committees 
could  agree  upon  nothing,"  came  forward  with  a  motion : 
a  motion  which  received  from  Bacon  an  approval  so  em- 
phatic that  the  exposition  of  his  policy  and  proceedings 
in  this  matter  (which  have  been  much  misrepresented) 
would  not  be  complete  without  describing  it. 

The  proposition  was  in  effect  this :  That  the  Com- 
mittee should  di^aw  up  a  speech  to  the  Queen,  humbly 
petitioning,  not  only  "  for  the  repeal  of  all  monopolies 
grievous  to  the  subject,"  —  with  a  view  to  which  every 
member  of  the  House  was  to  be  invited  to  put  in  his 
complaints  in  writing,  —  but  likewise  for  leave  to  make 
an  Act  that  they  might  be  of  no  more  force,  validity,  or 
effect  than  they  are  at  the  Common  Law,  without  the 
strength  of  her  Prerogative,  —  a  thing  which,  though 
they  might  do  it  now,  yet,  in  a  case  so  nearly  touching 
her  Prerogative,  they  would  not,  as  loyal  and  loving  sub- 
jects, offer  to  do  without  her  privity  and  consent,  —  and 
that  as  soon  as  this  address  was  drawn  up  the  Speaker 
should  be  sent  at  once  (not  at  the  end  of  the  session,  as 
on  the  last  occasion)  to  speak  it  to  her;  and  at  the  .same 
time  to  deliver  with  his  own  hand  the  lists  of  monopolies 
complained  of. 

VOL.  I.  25 


386  TOWNSHEND'S  MOTION.  [Book  III. 

This  motion,  wliicli  was  quite  in  accordance  with  Ba- 
son's idea  of  the  proper  way  of  proceeding,  was  seconded 
by  him  in  "a  long  speech,"  of  which,  however,  all  we 
know  is  that  it  "  concluded  thus  in  the  end :  "  — 

"  Why,  you  have  the  readiest  course  that  possibly  can 
be  devised.  I  would  wish  no  further  order  to  be  taken  but 
to  prefer  the  wise  and  discreet  speech  made  b}^  the  young 
gentleman,  even  the  youngest  in  this  assembly,  that  last 
spake.  I'll  tell  you-,  that  even  ex  ore  infantium  et  lac- 
tantium  the  true  and  most  certain  course  is  propounded 
unto  us." 

After  which  speech  of  Bacon's  the  Committee  sepa- 
rated without  deciding  upon  anything  except  that  they 
would  meet  again  on  Monday. 

It  seems,  however,  that  there  was  an  obstruction  some- 
where. For  on  Monday  the  debate  fell  away  from  the 
point  again.  Nor  did  Cecil,  who  came  forward  at  last, 
succeed  in  giving  it  a  better  direction  ;  unless  indeed  his 
object  were  (as  I  rather  suspect  it  was)  to  introduce  an 
element  of  disagreement  for  the  purpose  of  postponing  the 
decision.  For  after  giving  his  opinion  at  large  upon  most 
of  the  topics  which  had  been  discussed,  but  without  draw- 
ing towards  any  conclusion,  he  ended,  very  strangely, 
witii  recommending  "a  new  commitment,  to  consider 
what  her  MajeHty  might  grant  and  tvhat  not ;  and  what 
course  they  should  take,  and  upon  what  points,"  etc. : 
a  recommendation  which,  proceeding  from  him,  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  understand,  except  as  a  device  to  keep  the  wa- 
ters troubled  ;  for  it  seemed  to  import  a  discussion  of  the 
Prerogative  itsc^lf;  and  which  was  met  by  a  counter- 
recommendation,  fomiiig  (to  make  the  matter  stranger/ 
from  the  ])f>])ular  side,  —  for  it  was  moved  by  one  of  the 
iiicmbciH  who  in  the  first  dcltatc  had  sj)ok('n  most  decid- 
(sdly  in  fiivor  oi  |)ioici(liMg  bv  Kill,  and  scjcoiidcd  l»y  th<? 
intMnbcr  who  li:id  spoken  most  vehemently  and  power- 
fully sigaiiist   the    monopolies, —  mucli    to  the    (ilfect  of 


IGOl  J  CECIL'S  INTERFKRKXClv  387 

Townslieiid's  proposition  of  Saturday  evening;  namely, 
"  that  they  should  be  suitors  unto  her  Majesty  that  the 
Patentees  should  have  no  other  remedies  than  by  the  laws 
of  the  realm  they  might  have,  and  that  their  Act  might 
be  drawn  accordingly."  This  motion  "  the  House  seemed 
greatly  to  applaud ;  "  and  might,  one  would  think,  have 
passed  at  once,  but  that  Cecil,  for  some  reason  or  other, 
was  not  disposed  to  withdraw  his  own  ;  and  the  conclu- 
sion was  that  both  motions  should  be  determined  upon  by 
the  Committees  that  afternoon.  Yet  in  the  afternoon,  un- 
less Townshend's  notes  are  strangely  imperfect,  neithei 
of  them  was  put  to  the  question  ;  nor  indeed  was  any 
question  put  at  all.  But  the  old  ground  was  beaten  over 
again :  lists  of  monopolies  were  handed  about  privately : 
and  one  of  these,  containing  nearly  forty  titles  of  Pa- 
tents granted  within  the  last  twenty-eight  years,  was 
read  out  openly  by  Cecil  himself :  after  which  they  again 
separated  without  concluding  upon  anything, — to  meet 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day. 

These  repeated  adjournments  with  no  result  naturally 
excited  dissatisfaction  and  suspicion  ;  and  on  Tuesday 
morning,  "  after  some  loud  confusion  in  the  House  tmich- 
ing  some  private  murmur  concerning  monopolies,"  Cecil 
had  to  come  forward  again  ;  his  "  zeal  to  extinguish  mo- 
nopolies making  him  to  speak,  to  satisfy  their  opinions 
that  thought  there  should  be  no  redress  of  them."  He 
said  "  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  House  in  six  or 
seven  Parliaments,  and  yet  never  did  he  see  the  House 

in  so  great  confusion They^  had  had  speeches,  and 

speech  upon  speech,  without  either  order  or  discretion. 
One  would  have  had  them  proceed  by  Bill,  and  see  if  the 
Queen  would  have  denied  it.  Another  that  the  Pair 
ents  should  be  brought  there  before  them  and  cancelled : 
and  this  were  bravely  done.  Others  would  have  them 
proceed  by  way  of  petition,"  etc.  "  But  I  wish,"  he  con- 
cluded, "every  man  to  rest  s;itis(ied  until  the  Commit- 


388  CECIL'S    INTERFERENCE.  [Book  III. 

tees  have  brought  in  their  resolutions,  according  to  your 
comraandments." 

And  what  was  it  then  that  hindered  the  Comniittees 
from  coming  to  a  resohition  —  seeing  that  there  was  no 
difference  at  all  among  them  in  their  ends,  no  material 
difference  about  the  means,  and  a  general  inclination  in 
favor  of  one  of  the  two  courses  proposed  ?  The  answer, 
I  think,  must  be  that  the  Queen  was  going  to  lay  the 
waves  herself,  and  they  were  not  to  subside  till  she  ap- 
peared. The  extraordinary  disorder  and  confusion  which 
had  reigned  in  the  Committee  ever  since  Cecil  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  proceedings,  and  which  was  lead- 
ing to  an  embarrassment  from  which  they  could  not  ex- 
tricate themselves,  was  a  condition  (whether  natural  or 
artificial)  necessary  to  give  full  effect  to  the  scene  which 
followed ;  and  which,  as  Bacon  had  no  part  in  it  except 
as  a  deeply  interested  spectator,  I  must  be  content  to  de- 
scribe less  at  large  than  I  sliould  otherwise  wLsh. 

Such  a  petition  from  the  Commons  as  Bacon  recom- 
mended would  have  opened  a  fair  passage  out  of  the  diffi- 
culty. But  tlie  Queen  knew  of  a  more  excellent  way. 
ThA  draught  of  the  Subsidy  Bill  had  been  proceeding 
without  any  check:  not  a  murmur  had  escaped  during  all 
this  excitement  to  show  that  anybody  regretted  the  grant 
or  wished  to  hold  it  back :  and  she  bethought  herself 
(being,  though  not  formally  apprised,  yet  known  to  be 
aware  of  what  had  passed)  that  it  would  be  no  less  than 
gracious,  in  a  case  so  unusual,  to  make  some  acknowl- 
i'dguient.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  on  that  very  after- 
noon, when  the  Committee  on  Hide's  liill  was  to  have 
met  again  for  thi;  fourth  time,  the  Speaker  was  sent  for 
to  convey  her  hearty  thanks  to  the  lious(;  for  the  care 
they  had  shown  of  her  state  and  kingdom  in  agreeing  to 
HO  large  a  subsidy  at  the  vttry  beginning  of  the  session. 
lie  was  to  tell  tJMMn  frdhi  her  how  hii^hlv  she  valued  this 
evidence  of  their  affection  ;    how  their  love  was  her  dear- 


1601.]  QUEEN  ELIZABETH'S  LAST  APPEARANCE.  389 

3st  possession,  and  to  repnj  it  by  defending  them  from 
all  oppressions,  her  chief  and  constant  care.  In  token  of 
which  he  was  to  inform  them  further,  that  having  lately 
imderstood,  partly  from  her  Council  and  partly  by  peti- 
tions delivered  to  her  as  she  went  abroad,  that  certain 
Patents  which  she  had  granted  had  been  abused  and 
made  oppressive  by  the  substitutes  of  the  Patentees,  she 
had  given  order  to  have  them  reformed  :  some  should 
be  presently  revoked,  and  all  suspended  until  tried  and 
found  good  according  to  law ;  and  the  abusers  should  be 
punished. 

Such  was  the  substance  of  the  message  which  the 
Speaker,  '•  to  his  unspeakable  comfort,"  had  to  deliver  to 
the  House  the  next  morning;  and  in  which,  coming  to  us 
as  it  does  at  the  second  reflexion,  —  a  report  of  a  report, 
—  some  image  may  still  be  traced  of  that  majesty  of  de- 
meanor, that  "  art  and  impression  of  words,"'  with  which 
Elizabeth  so  well  knew  how  to  rule  the  affections  of  a 
people.  The  Speaker  having  concluded  his  rep(n't  with 
a  congratulation  upon  this  happy  solution  of  their  diffi- 
culties, Cecil  —  now  quite  himself  again,  and  in  high  spir- 
its—  explained  at  length  what  was  to  be  done:  tiie  sum 
of  which  was  shortly  this  :  It  had  been  found  that  some 
of  the  Patentees  had  been  in  the  habit  of  extorting 
money  from  ignorant  and  helpless  people  by  threatening 
them  with  proceedings  which  the  Patents  themselves  did 
not  justify;  therefore  a  proclamation  was  to  go  forth  im- 
mediately, suspending  the  execution  of  all  these  Patents 
without  exception,  and  referring  them  to  the  decision  of 
the  common  law. 

This  being  all  that  anybody  proposed  either  to  ask  for 
or  to  do  without  asking,  the  House  was  overcome  with 
delight.  One  of  the  most  vehement  speakers  on  the  pop- 
ular side,i  even  he  who  had  declared  only  five  days  be- 
fore that   "there  was  no  act  of  the  Queen's  that  had 

1  Francis  Moore,  membpr  for  Reading. 


390  QUEEN   ELIZABETH'S  LAST  APPEARANCE.     IBooic  IIL 

been  or  was  more  derogatory  to  her  own  Majesty,  or  more 
odious  to  the  subject,  or  more  dangerous  to  the  common- 
wealth, than  the  granting  of  these  monopolies,"  was  the 
first  to  express  his  entire  satisfaction  ;  and  immediately 
moved  that  the  Speaker  should  be  sent  to  the  Queen,  not 
only  to  thank  her  for  what  she  had  done,  but  to  apologize 
for  what  they  had  said,  and  "  humbly  to  m-ave  pardon  " 
for  ''  divers  speeches  that  had  been  made  extravagantly 
in  that  House."  And  though  the  second  clause  of  his 
motion  was  rejected,  on  the  ground  that  '*  to  accuse 
themselves  by  excusing  a  fault  with  which  they  were  not 
charged  were  a  thing  inconvenient  and  unfitting  the  wis- 
dom of  that  House,"  the  first  was  carried  unanimousl3\ 
A  dozen  members  were  immediately  chosen  to  accompany 
the  Speaker,  and  the  Privy  Councillors  were  requested 
to  obtain  leave  for  them  to  attend  her. 

But  she  knew  how  to  keep  her  state.  Cecil  came  back 
the  next  day  with  a  short  answer  in  these  words:  "  You 
can  give  me  no  more  thanks  for  that  which  I  have  prom- 
ised you  than  I  can  and  will  give  you  thanks  for  that 
which  you  have  already  performed."  "  You  siiall  not 
need,"  he  added,  "  (your  good  Avill  lacing  already  known), 
use  any  actual  thanks  :  neither  will  she  receive  any,  till 
by  a  more  actual  consummation  she  liath  completed  this 
work.  At  that'  time  she  will  be  well  pleased  to  re- 
ceive your  loves  with  thaidvs,  and  to  return  you  her  best 
favors." 

This  was  on  Thursday.  On  Saturday,  the  promised 
])roclamation  being  published  "  and  in  every  man's 
hand,"  they  wen;  informed  that  she  would  receiv(^  them 
on  .Monday  afternoon,  —  forty,  lilty,  or  out;  hundred  of 
them.  But  when  tluiy  were  [(roctHuling  to  si^lect  tlu! 
hundred,  then;  rose  a  cry  at  the  lower  end  of  the  House 
(A  nil,  (i//,  (i// :  wJiK'h  being  re[)ort(id  to  the  (j)iieen,  she 
gave  leave  for  all  to  coMK!.  She  rec(!ive<l  them  in  state; 
and  having  heard  the  a<ldre.s3  of  thanks,  delivered  by  the 


1601.]  QUEEN  ELIZABETH'S   LAST   APPEAP.ANCE.  391 

Speaker  in  a  style  which  reminds  one  of  the  Liturgy,* 
replied  in  a  style  peculiar  to  herself.  If  she  had  known 
that  it  was  her  last  meeting  with  her  people,  and  studied 
to  appear  that  day  as  she  would  wish  to  be  remembered 
ever  after,  she  could  not  have  done  it  better.  Gracious, 
grateful,  affectionate,  familiar;  seated  high  above  the 
leach  of  injury  or  offense,  and  filled  with  awful  confi- 
dence in  the  authority  deputed  to  her,  yet  descending  to 
exchange  courtesies,  accept  benefits,  acknowledge  and  ex- 
cuse errors,  — 

"  Slie  bowed  her  eminent  top  to  their  low  ranks, 
Making  them  proud  of  her  humility;  " 

raid  I  suppose  never  appeared  so  unquestionably  and  un- 
approachably sovereign  as  then  when  she  spoke  to  them 
most  freely,  feelingly,  and  touchingly,  in  the  tone  of  a 
woman  and  a  friend. 

So  ended  an  exciting  and  rather  critical  ten  days'  work, 
to  the  full  satisfaction  of  everybody ;  the  monopoly  ques- 
tion being  effectually  disposed  of  for  the  time,  and  the 
Queen  seated  more  firmly  than  ever  in  the  admiration 
and  affection  of  her  people. 


CHAPTER  II. 

A.  D.  1601-1603.     ^TAT.  41-43. 

When  a  man  is  afflicted  with  chronic  disease  of  the 
purse,  liis  worst  friend  is  a  too  liberal  lender.  In  June, 
1594,  Anthony  Bacon,  in  thanking  his  mother  for  assent- 
ing to  some  arrangement  for  the  satisfaction  and  assur- 
ance of  Mr.  Nicholas  Trott,  described  him  as  a  friend 
who  "  had  shown  more  real  confidence  and  kindness " 
towards  himself  and  Francis  than  "  all  their  brothers 
and  uncles  put  together  would  have  performed,  if  they 
had  been  constrained  to  have  had  recourse  to  them  in 
the  like  case."  But  in  June,  1594,  Francis  was  in  con- 
tinual expectation  of  being  made  Solicitor  General,  and 
was  beginning  to  be  actually  employed  in  business  of  the 
learned  counsel.  Before  the  end  of  1596  the  hope  of  the 
Solicitor  Generalship  was  extinct,  his  other  prospects  dim, 
his  credit  at  a  discount,  and  the  kind  and  confident  friend 
tiiiiK'il  into  the  aggrieved  and  complaining  creditor.  As 
it  usually  happens  in  such  cases,  either  story  taken  by 
itself  sounds  reasonable:  and  the  (n'ideu('(!  is  not  com- 
plete enough  to  give  us  the;  means  of  juil^iiig  hetwecu 
them.  Abuse  of  confidence  is  coinplaiiie(l  of  on  both 
sides  ;  by  the  credit(jr,  in  the  shajx'  of  promises  unper- 
formed ;  by  tlui  debtor,  in  (hcslmpc  of  usurious  interc^st 
d(!!n!inded  ;  and  on  bolh  sides,  I  dare  say,  the  (•omj)l:iint 
was  sincere;  ihoiigh  in  a  transaction  Ix'tween  friends  the 
presumplion  is  commonly  against  the  borrower,  because 
the  lender  r;i\\  ;il\v;ivs  behave  lik(^  a  gentleman  if  lu>  will, 
whereas  the  Imrrower  has  not  perhaps  the  means  of  dr)ing 


1601-160.3.]      BACON'S  ACCOUNT  WITH  TROTT.         393 

SO.  Bacon,  not  being  able  to  repay  what  he  had  bor- 
rowed, was  forced  at  last  to  mortgage  Twickenham  Park  ; 
and  it  seems  that  the  deed  gave  Trott  a  right  of  entry  if 
the  debt  were  not  paid  before  November,  1601.  To  avoid 
this,  Bacon  —  now  owner  of  all  that  his  brother  had  left, 
and  with  some  ready  money  from  Catesby's  fine  to  help 
—  resorted  to  his  friends  Maynard  and  Hickes,  who 
endeavored  to  negotiate  a  settlement  of  Trott's  claims. 
The  matters  in  dispute  were  referred  to  the  Lord  Treas- 
urer, and  the  result  appears  to  have  been  that  Bacon  was 
to  pay  Trott  £1,800,  —  a  sum  which,  as  far  as  I  can  make 
out,  must  have  been  equal  to  the  principal  with  inter- 
est at  ten  per  cent.,  —  and  that  by  the  22d  of  January, 
1601-2,  Bacon's  forty-first  birthday,  the  money  was  paid 
and  Twickenham  Park  redeemed. 

The  prosperous  proceeding  and  gracious  parting  with 
her  last  Parliament  was  not  the  only  contribution  brought 
by  the  Christmas  of  1601  to  the  feHcities  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. On  Christmas  Eve,  an  attempt  by  Tyrone,  with 
the  largest  rebel  army  ever  brought  together  in  Ireland, 
acting  in  combination  with  two  or  three  thousand  newly- 
landed  Spaniards,  to  relieve  the  troops  in  Kinsale,  was 
anticipated  and  defeated  by  INIontjoy,  and  the  relieving 
force  so  completely  broken  that  the  Spanish  general,  find- 
ing his  enterprise  hopeless,  —  the  rather  because  the  ships 
sent  from  Spain  with  fresh  provisions  of  war  had  been  at 
the  same  time  attacked  and  destroyed  in  the  harbor  of 
Castlehaven  by  Sir  Richard  Leveson,  —  prepared  to  capit- 
ulate. The  news  of  this  decisive  victory  reached  London 
on  2d  of  January,  1001-2,  and  was  followed  on  the  20th 
by  a  report  of  the  terms  of  capitulation  ;  the  sum  of  which 
was  that  the  Spaniards  sliould  surrender  all  the  places 
they  held,  and  be  allowed  to  go  away  with  all  they 
brought  with  them,  and  help  to  transport  it.  The  blow 
was  fatal  to  the  rebellion.  Montjoy,  pressing  his  advan- 
tage with  judicious  assiduity,  and  planting  garrisons  as 


894     LETTER  TO  CECIL  ON  THE  STATE  OF  IRELAND.     [Book  IIL 

he  proceeded,  gradually  established  hhiiselt:"  in   military 
possession  of  the  whole  country. 

But  military  possession,  though  indispensable  as  a  prep- 
aration for  the  work  that  had  to  be  done,  was  not  the 
work  itself.  How  to  cure  the  disease  out  of  which  tliis 
great  rebellion  —  a  rebellion  of  eight  years'  duration  — 
had  sprung  was  the  great  problem  of  estate  which  now 
pressed  for  solution  ;  and  mui;li  depended  upon  the  right 
treatment  being  adopted,  and  adopted  immediately,  at 
this  conjuncture.  Sir  Robert  Cecil  was  now  the  leading 
man  at  the  English  Council-board ;  and  to  him  Bacon 
volunteered  a  memorial  on  the  subject,  which  he  thought 
worth  preserving  in  his  own  collection.  It  appears  to 
have  been  composed  in  the  summer  vacation  of  1602,  and 
created  of  the  reduction  of  Ireland  "  to  civility  and  justice 
as  well  as  to  obedience  and  peace "  (which  things,  as 
affairs  then  stood,  he  held  to  be  inseparable),  under  four 
heads:  "1.  The  extinguishing  of  the  relics  of  the  war. 
2.  The  recovery  of  the  hearts  of  the  people.  3.  The  re- 
niovinf;  of  the  root  and  occasions  of  new  troubles.  4. 
Plantations  and  buildings." 

What  might  have  been  done  in  tliis  matter  if  Elizabeth 
liad  lived,  it  is  vain  to  inquire.  She  lived  only  to  see 
the  first  part  of  the  work  accomplished  —  the  rebellion 
effectually  subdued. 

As  yet  ind(;ed  she  showed  no  sign  of  decaying  powers, 
and  it  was  oidy  tlu^  number  of  lier  days  tliat  warned  her 
(•()uii<'ill(>rs  to  i)r(']):ir('  for  a  successor.  On  tlu^  7th  of 
Scj)t('mb('r,  1002,  sh(;  completed  her  sixty-ninth  year; 
yet  her  administration  was  nevcsr  more  active,  vigorous, 
and  pros]»(!rous,  nor<'vci'  nioic  Iicr  own.  Kciiitnrceinents 
were  disj)al<'hed  to  (he  army  in  Ii-eland  in  suirK;ient  num- 
bei's  and  with  suHicient  speed  t(j  complete  th(^  pursuit 
and  defe;it  of  tlici  scattered  rebels.  A  naval  force  was 
fitted  f)ut  to  keep  the  Spanish  navy  in  etn])loymeiit  or  in 
check,  and  so  cut  off  all  ho^^e  of  further  assistance  from 


IGOl-lGO;].]  SUBMISSION  OF  TYRONE.  395 

that  quarter.  And  besides  active  negotiations  carried  on 
through  her  ambassador  with  Henry  IV.  to  secure  com- 
mon action  in  the  immediate  exigencies,  she  was  in  secret 
personal  correspondence  with  him  about  his  great  design 
for  the  settlement  of  Europe,  —  an  enterprise  in  which 
he  and  his  great  minister  were  still  reckoning  upon  her 
individual  cooperation  as  a  condition  almost  indispensa- 
ble. The  year  was  a  year  of  plenty.  Her  health  con- 
tinued good.  Every  packet  brought  news  of  some  head 
of  rebellion  coming  in.  And  at  last  Tyrone  himself,  find- 
ing all  overtures  of  conditional  submission  summarily  re- 
jected, offered,  "  without  standing  upon  any  terms  or 
conditions,  both  simply  and  absolutely  to  submit  himself 
to  her  Majesty's  mercy." 

This  offer  was  contained  in  a  letter  to  Montjoy,  dated 
22d  December,  1602.  But  though,  to  save  appearances, 
and  to  give  the  overture  a  chance  of  being  entertained, 
it  was  made  nominally  unconditional,  it  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  Tyrone  would  really  give  himself  up  without 
some  assurance  of  life  and  liberty ;  and  the  question 
which  Montjoy  seems  to  have  referred  to  the  Queen  was 
what  assurance  he  might  give.  It  has  been  said  that  her 
dealing  witli  this  question  betrayed  the  infirmity  of  age ; 
and  it  is  true  that  she  did  not  go  exactly  at  the  pace  her 
councillors  desired.  In  that,  however,  it  cannot  be  said 
that  she  was  unlike  herself :  and  to  me  it  seems  that  she 
was  never  more  like  herself  than  in  the  management  of 
the  whole  matter.  For  as  the  time  which  passed  before 
Montjoy  received  his  answer  represents  the  strength  of 
her  reluctance  to  make  any  conditions  with  such  an 
offender, —  a  reluctance  which  she  would  have  felt  at  any 
time  of  her  life, — so  the  answer  which  he  received  at 
/ast  represents  the  victoi-y  of  good  sense  and  policy  over 
personal  inclination,  in  which  such  struggles  always  ended. 
The  exact  date  at  which  she  received  Tyrone's  offer  of 
submission  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain  ;  but,  as  it 


396  SUBMISSION   OF  TYRONE.  [Book  HI. 

had  to  go  round  b}-  Galwa}-,  it  would  reach  her  proba- 
bly about  the  middle  of  January.  On  the  2d  of  March 
Montjoy  received  a  packet  containing  three  letters  :  two 
from  herself,  dated  respectively  the  16th  and  17th  of 
February,  and  one  from  Cecil,  dated  the  18th ;  the  effect 
of  which,  taken  all  together,  was  this.  As  an  induce- 
ment to  Tyrone  to  come  in,  he  might  in  the  first  instance 
promise  him  his  life  and  "  such  other  conditions  as  should 
be  honorable  and  reasonable  for  the  Queen  to  grant  him. 
If  that  were  not  enough,  he  might  promise  him  his  liberty 
likewise  —  liberty  to  ''come  and  go  safe,  though  in  other 
things  they  did  not  agree."  When  he  came,  lie  might 
pass  him  a  pardon  upon  certain  specified  conditions,  of 
which  it  is  enough  to  say  here  that  they  were  similar  in 
all  the  main  points  to  those  which  had  been  required  in 
March,  1597—8 :  ^  upon  these  conditions,  if  they  could  he 
got.  If,  however,  he  could  not  bo  brought  to  accept  them 
all,  then,  "  rather  than  send  him  back  unpardoned  to  be 
a  head  still  of  rebellion,"  Montjoy  was  to  use  his  discre- 
tion, and  get  such  "  other  reasonable  conditions  "  as  he 
could. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  anxiety  of  her  councillors, 
the  event  proved  that  the  commission  was  both  ample 
enough  and  speedy  enough  for  the  occasion.  For  Mont- 
joy, following  her  own  example,  showed  himself  in  no 
hurry,  but  waited  for  another  petition  from  Tyrone ;  who 
as  late  as  the  20th  of  March,  which  was  nearly  three 
weeks  after  the  letters  from  England  had  arrived,  wrote 
once  more  to  remind  him  that  he  was  still  without 
answer,  and  to  press  urgently  for  an  intt;rview.  By  the 
time  this  petition  reached  him,  however  (which  was  on 
the  2'jd),  he  had  lieard  that  the  Quecm  was  dangerously 
ill :  and  seeing  tlu;  importance  of  getting  the  business 
concludfd  Ixfore  the  prospect  of  a  new  reign  or  a  dis- 
puted succession  should  beget  new  hopes,  he  seized  the 

'   For  wliii'li  see  p.  221. 


1601-1G03.]  DEATH  OF  ELIZABETH.  397 

occasion  at  once  and  changed  his  pace.  On  the  24th  he 
commissioned  tAvo  gentlemen  to  confer  with  Tyrone,  and 
sent  out  at  the  same  time  the  necessary  letters  of  protec- 
tion ;  on  the  27th,  received  news  that  he  had  consented 
to  come  ;  the  next  da}',  having  just  heard  (privately  and 
not  officially)  that  the  Queen  was  dead,  wrote  to  hasten 
him  —  keeping  his  intelligence  in  the  mean  time  secret; 
on  the  30th,  gave  him  audience  in  a  style  as  stately  and 
imperial  as  Elizabeth  herself  could  have  desired ;  on  the 
31st,  received  his  written  submission  upon  the  conditions 
prescribed ;  thereupon  promised  him  in  the  Queen's  name 
pardon,  with  restoration  of  title  and  (with  some  excep- 
tion) of  lands,  etc. ;  on  the  4th  of  April,  brought  him  to 
Dublin  ;  on  the  5th,  received  official  news  of  the  Queen's 
death  ;  and  on  the  6th  caused  him  to  make  a  new  sub- 
mission in  the  same  form  to  the  new  King.  So  that  the 
last  act  of  Elizabeth's  administration  was  as  successful  as 
any,  and  nothing  lost  by  the  delay. 

She  died  on  the  24th  of  March,  after  an  illness  of 
about  three  weeks ;  and  as  her  complaint  did  not  take 
any  acute  form,  or  answer  to  any  name  more  definite 
than  "  melancholy,"  the  discoursers  of  the  time  busied 
themselves  in  inventing  causes  to  account  for  it.  Half  a 
dozen  possible  or  probable  causes  of  mental  mortification 
wei'e  easily  assigned,  out  of  which  those  who  think  that 
the  death  of  a  woman  in  her  seventieth  year  requires 
any  extraordinary  explanation  may  take  their  choice. 
But  the  fact  is  that  she  had  removed  from  London  to 
Richmond  on  the  21st  of  January  in  very  foul  and  wet 
weather,  which  was  suddenly  followed  by  a  very  severe 
frost ;  ^  and  if  we  suppose  that  she  then  caught  a  bad 
cold,  whicli  attacked  some  vital  organ  ;  and  that  (like 
most  people  of  strong  minds  in  strong  bodies,  unused  to 
illness)  she  was  at  once  impatient  of  the  sensation  of 
iveakness,  unwilling  to  have  it  seen,  distrustful  of  rem- 

1  Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  27th  January,  1602-3;  p.  174. 


398  DEATH    OF  ELIZABETH.  [Book  HI. 

edies,  intolerant  of  expostulation,  and  secretly  apprehen- 
sive of  the  worst,  we  shall  need  no  other  explanation  of 
all  the  incidents  of  her  illness  which  rest  upon  good  evi- 
dence. "  No  doubt  "  (says  Chamberlain)  "  but  you  shall 
hear  her  Majesty's  sickness  and  manner  of  death  diversely 
related :  for  even  here  the  Papists  do  tell  strange  stories, 
as  utterly  void  of  truth  as  of  all  civil  honesty  or  humanity. 
I  had  good  means  to  understand  how  the  world  went, 
and  find  her  disease  to  be  nothing  but  a  settled  and  un- 
removable melancholy,  insomuch  that  she  could  not  be 
won  or  persuaded,  neither  by  the  counsel,  divines,  physi- 
cians, nor  the  women  about  her,  once  to  taste  or  touch 
any  physic  ;  though  ten  or  twelve  physicians  that  were 
continually  about  her  did  assure  her  with  all  manner  of 
asseverations  of  perfect  and  easy  recovery  if  she  would 

follow  their    advice Here  was    some  whispering 

that  her  brain  was  somewhat  distempered,  but  there  was 
no  such  matter ;  only  she  held  an  obstinate  silence  for  the 
most  part,  and  because  she  had  a  persuasion  that  if  she 
once  lay  down  she  should  never  rise,  could  not  be  gotten 
to  bed  in  a  whole  week  till  three  days  before  her  death  ; 
so  that  after  three  weeks'  languisliing,  she  departed  the 
24th  of  this  present,"  etc. 

"  1  dined  with  Dr.  Parry  in  the  Privy  Chamber," 
wiitcs  Manningham  in  his  diary,  on  the  !23d  of  March, 
"  and  und(;rstood  by  him,  the  Bishop  of  Chichester,  tiie 
Dean  of  Canterbury,  the  Dean  of  Windsor,  et(\,  that  her 
Miijesty  liath  been  by  lils  troubled  with  melancholy  some 
thret!  or  four  months,  but  for  this  fortnight  extnune  op- 
pressecl  with  it;  insomucli  that  she  refused  to  eat  any- 
tliing,  to  receive  any  pliysie,  or  admit  any  rest  in  bed, 
till  within  these  two  or  thnic  days.  She  hath  been  in  a 
manner  Hj)eeehless  for  two  days.  Very  pensive  and  silent 
since  Shrovelide;  '  sitting  sometimes  with  her  eye  fixed 
(tM  one  ol)j<!ct  many  hours  together.      Yet  she  always  had 

1  Shrovu  TueHtluy  full  on  tlie  5th  of  March  in  1G02-3. 


1601-1603.]  DEATH  OF  ELIZABETH.  399 

her  perfect  senses  and  meniorj',  and  yesterday  signified 
by  the  lifting  up  of  her  hands  to  heaven  (a  sign  whi(;h 
Dr.  Parry  entreated  of  lier)  that  she  believed  that  faith 
which  she  hath  caused  to  be  professed,  and  looked  faith- 
fully to  be  saved  by  Christ's  merits  and  mercy  only, 
and  no  other  means.  She  took  great  delight  in  hearing 
prayers,  would  often  at  the  name  of  Jesus  lift  up  her 
hands  and  eyes  to  heaven ;  she  would  not  hear  the  Arch- 
bishop speak  of  hope  of  her  longer  life,  but  when  he 
prayed  or  spake  of  heaven  or  those  joys,  she  would  hug 
his  hand.  It  seems  she  might  have  lived  if  she  would 
have  used  means ;  but  she  would  not  be  persuaded,  and 
]n-inces  must  not  be  forced.  Her  physicians  said  she  had 
a  body  of  firm  and  perfect  constitution  likely  to  have 
lived  many  years." 

The  next  day  he  adds  that  about  three  o'clock  in  the 
niurning  she  "departed  this  life  mildly,  like  a  lamb: 
I'iisily,  like  a  ripe  apple  from  the  tree :  cum  leni  quadam 
febre,  absque  gemitu." 

The  consciousness  or  apprehension  that  she  was  no 
longer  mistress  of  her  own  powers  is  quite  enough  to 
account  for  the  melancholy  which  oppressed  her.  It  is 
easy  to  believe  that,  whatever  her  physicians  might  say, 
she  felt  her  faculties  failing,  and  did  not  choose  to  outlive 
them. 

As  a  matter  of  policiy,  there  was  perhaps  no  part  of 
Elizabeth's  proceedings  more  questionable  from  first  to 
hist,  in  the  judgment  of  her  best  councillors,  than  her 
refusal  to  let  the  question  of  succession  be  settled,  or  even 
discussed.  Yet  here  again,  if  the  event  be  accepted  as 
judge,  it  is  hard  to  say  that  she  was  wrong.  Her  own 
authority  endured  to  the  last  without  diminution,  and  her 
successor  took  her  place  at  once,  without  contention  or 
disturbance. 

"  The  Proclamation,"  writes  Manningham,  on  the 
night  of  the   24th,  "  was  heard   with  great  expectation 


400  DEATH   OF   ELIZABETH.  [Book  HI. 

and  silent  joy  :  no  great  shouting  ;  1  thiiilv  the  sorrow  for 
her  Majesty's  departure  was  so  deep  in  many  hearts  that 
they  could  not  so  suddenly  show  any  great  joy;  though 
it  could  not  be  less  than  exceeding  great  for  the  succes- 
sion of  so  worthy  a  King.  And  at  night  they  showed  it 
by  bonfires  and  ringing.  No  tumult ;  no  contradiction  ; 
no  disorders  in  the  city ;  every  man  went  about  his  busi- 
ness as  readily,  as  peaceably,  as  securely,  as  though  there 
had  been  no  change,  nor  auy  news  ever  heard  of  compet- 
itors." 

Nor  did  this  outward  calm  in  any  respect  belie  the  fact. 
And  yet  to  statesmen  the  crisis  was  not  the  less  an  anx- 
ious one,  for  public  as  well  as  private  reasons.  The  dan- 
ger of  a  competition  for  the  Crown  was  indeed  past;  and 
the  sensation  is  described  by  Bacon  as  like  that  of  wak- 
ing from  a  fearful  dream. ^  But  the  very  absence  of  com- 
petition implied  the  existence  of  expectations  or  hopes 
in  different  parties,  whose  interests  being  opposite  their 
hopes  could  not  all  be  fulfilled.  No  policy  could  prevent 
the  growth  of  discontents,  but  whether  they  siiould  grow 
to  be  dangerous  would  depend  upon  the  position  which 
the  new  King  took  up  among  the  contending  parties  and 
conflicting  interests. 

With  such  questions  Bacon  was  familiar,  and  he  could 
not  but  feel  that  he  had  matter  in  him  wliich  would  he, 
of  S(irvic(!.  His  professional  ambition  had  always  aspiied 
to  (Miiployincut  in  Ihe  business  of  the  state,  and  his 
cliances  of  personal  success  in  lift'  and  of  recovery  from 
the  (.'inbarrassments  with  which  he  had  been  so  long 
struggling,  and  fi-om  wliidi  Ik;  was  not  yet  free,  lay  all 
in  that  direction.  On  all  accounts,  thei-efore,  it  was  a 
prinu!  olij('(;t  with  him  to  obtain  the  favorabhi  regard  of 
tlie  new  King;  and  lie  l(;st  no  time  in  using  sueh  oppor- 
l unities  as  Ik;  h:iil.  Tliti  most  important  person  in  Eng- 
land was  his  cousin.  Sir  Rol)ert  ('(^cil  ;  and  next  to  him 

'   brj;iiiiiiii^;  "f  a  llUlnry  of  Gnut  firilnin:    Wm-ks,  ii.,  I'nrt  I.,  p.  408. 


1001-1G03.]  LETTER  TO  THE  KING.  401 

perhaps  (at  tbat  time)  the  Eaii  of  Northumberland,  wlio 
had  been  engaged  for  some  years,  together  with  Cecil  and 
Lord  Henry  Howard,  in  a  secret  and  confidential  corre- 
spondence with  James  ;  and  had  within  the  last  few  days 
been  invited  by  the  Council  to  assist  them  ;  and  who, 
being  besides  a  man  of  letters  and  learning,  was  qualified 
to  appreciate  Bacon's  value  and  sympathize  with  his 
tastes  in  that  department  also.  He  was  acquainted  like- 
wise, more  or  less,  with  several  persons  about  the  Scotch 
Court,  who  had  been  in  correspondence  with  his  brother 
in  the  service  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and  were  likely  on 
that  account  to  be  regarded  with  favor.  To  all  these, 
knowing  that  a  man  may  be  forgotten  merely  for  want 
of  a  reminder,  he  now  addressed  himself,  —  directly  or 
indirectly,  as  seemed  most  becoming  or  most  discreet  in 
each  case,  —  and  to  one  of  them  he  inclosed  the  follow- 
ing letter,  for  delivery  to  the  King  himself. 

AN"    OFFEU     of     service    to    his    majesty    K.     JAMES 
UPON   HIS   FIRST   COMING   UST. 

It  MAY  PLEASE  YOUR  MOST  EXCELLENT  MAJESTY,  — 
It  is  observed  upon  a  place  in  the  Canticles  by  some.  Ego 
sum  flos  campi  et  lilium  convallium^  that,  a  disjjari,  it  is 
not  said,  JSgo  sum  flos  hoi'ti,  et  lilium  montium  ;  because 
the  majesty  of  that  person  is  not  inclosed  for  a  few,  nor 
appropriate  to  the  great.  And  yet  notwithstanding,  this 
royal  virtue  of  access,  which  nature  and  judgment  have 
planted  in  your  Majesty's  mind  as  the  portal  of  all  the 
rest,  could  not  of  itself  (my  imperfections  considered) 
have  animated  me  to  make  oblation  of  myself  immedi- 
ately to  your  Majesty,  had  it  not  been  joined  with  an 
habit  of  like  liberty,  which  I  enjoyed  with  my  late  dear 
Sovereign  Mistress;  a  Prince  happy  in  all  things,  but 
most  happy  in  such  a  successor.  And  yet  further  and 
more  nearly,  I  was  not  a  little  encouraged,  not  only  upon 
a  supposal  that  unto  your  Majesty's  sacred  ears  (open 

VOL.  I.  2G 


402  LETTER  TO  THK  KING.  [Book  III. 

to  the  air  of  all  vii'tues)  there  might  perhaps  have  como 
some  small  breath  of  the  good  memory  of  my  father,  so 
long  a  principal  counsellor  in  this  your  kingdom ;  but 
also  by  the  particular  knowledge  of  the  infinite  devo- 
tion and  incessant  endeavors  (beyond  the  strength  of 
his  body,  and  the  nature  of  the  times)  which  appeared 
in  my  good  brother  towards  your  Majesty's  service ;  and 
were  on  your  Majesty's  part,  through  your  singular  be- 
nignity, by  many  most  gracious  and  lively  significations 
and  favors  accepted  and  acknowledged,  beyond  the  merit 
of  anytliing  he  could  effect.  All  wliich  endeavors  and 
duties  for  the  most  part  were  common  to  myself  with 
him,  tliough  by  design  (as  between  brethren)  dissembled. 
And  therefore,  most  liigh  and  mighty  King,  my  most 
dear  and  dread  sovereign  lord,  since  now  the  cornei-stone 
is  laid  of  the  mightiest  monarchy  in  Europe  ;  and  that 
God  above,  who  is  noted  to  have  a  mighty  hand  in  brid- 
ling the  floods  and  fluctuations  of  the  seas  and  of  people's 
hearts,  liatli,  by  the  miraculous  and  universal  consent 
(the  more  strange  because  it  proceedeth  from  such  diver- 
sity of  causes)  in  your  coming  in,  given  a  sign  and  token 
what  lie  intendeth  in  the  continuance  ;  I  think  there  is 
no  subject  of  your  Majesty's,  who  loveth  this  island,  and 
is  not  hollow  and  unworthy,  whose  heart  is  not  set  on 
fire,  not  only  to  bring  you  peace-offerings  to  make  yon 
propitious,  but  to  sacrifice  himself  a  burnt-offering  to 
your  Majesty's  service :  amongst  which  number  no  man's 
fire  sliall  be  more  pure  and  fervent  than  mine.  But  how 
far  forth  it  shall  blaze  out,  that  resteth  in  your  Majesty's 
employmt'iit.  For  since  your  fortune  in  the  greatness 
thereof  lialli  foi"  a  tiuH'  (It'l)arre(l  your  Majesty  of  the 
princely  virlu«;  which  one  calleth  the  principal,  —  "  Prin- 
cipis  est  virtus  maxima  noss(;  suos," —  because  your  Maj- 
esty hatli  many  of  yours  which  are  unknown  to  you,  I 
must  l(^av«^  all  to  tin;  trial  of  further  time,  and  so  thirst- 
ing after  tin-  hapjiiness  of  kissing  your  royal  hand,  con- 
tinui'  ever,  etc. 


1601-1G03.]         DRAFT  OF  PROPOSED  PROCLAMATION.  403 

Having  despatched  these  personal  matters,  his  next 
care  was  to  consider  what  help  he  could  give  in  smooth- 
ing the  King's  path  to  the  hearts  of  tlie  people.  To 
touch  the  right  vein  at  first  was  a  matter  by  no  means 
easy  for  a  stranger,  and  a  rub  the  wrong  way  miglit  do 
much  mischief.  Addressing  himself  therefore  to  the 
Earl  of  Northumberland,  by  whom  his  recent  offer  of 
service  seems  to  have  been  favorably  entertained,  he  sent 
him  a  draft  of  a  Proclamation,  such  as  he  thought  fit  for 
the  time ;  and  which,  being  an  entirely  voluntary  per- 
formance of  his  own  suggestion,  may  be  taken  as  em- 
bodying the  advice  which  he  would  have  given  to  the 
King  at  this  conjuncture,  if  he  had  been  in  a  position  to 
advise.  It  is  taken  from  a  copy  preserved  and  corrected 
by  himself,  and  shows,  among  other  things,  that  if  de- 
preciation of  Elizabeth  was  really  the  fashion  at  Court 
during  the  first  few  months  of  James's  reign,  —  a  fact 
which  I  find  it  hard  to  believe,  though  resting  on  the 
'respectable  evidence  of  Sully,  —  it  was  "a  mistake  for  which 
Bacon,  at  any  rate,  was  not  responsible  ;  and  its  drift 
and  purpose  are  sufficiently  explained  in  the  letter  which 
accompanied  it. 

A  LETTER  TO  MY  LORD  OF  NORTHUMBERLAND  MEN- 
TIONING A  PROCLAMATION  DRAWN  FOR  THE  KING 
AT   HIS    ENTRANCE. 

It  may  PLEASE  YOUR  LORDSHIP,  —  I  do  hold  it  a 
thing  formal  and  necessary  for  the  King  to  forerun  his 
coming  (be  it  never  so  speed}')  with  some  gracious  dec- 
laration, for  the  cherishing,  entertaining,  and  preparing 
of  men's  affections.  For  which  purpose  I  have  conceived 
a  draft,  it  being  a  tiling  familiar  in  mj^  Mistiness'  times 
to  liave  my  pen  used  in  public  writings  of  satisfaction. 
The  use  of  this  may  be  in  two  sorts :  first  properly,  if 
your  Lordship  think  convenient  to  show  the  King  any 
such  draft ;    because  the  veins  and  pulses  of    this  state 


404  DRAFT   OF  PROPOSED  PROCLAMATION.        [Book  III. 

cannot  be  bat  best  known  here  ;  which  if  your  Lordship 
should  do,  then  I  wouki  desire  you  to  withdraw  my  name, 
and  only  signify  that  you  gave  some  heads  of  direction 
of  such  a  matter  to  one  of  whose  style  and  pen  you  had 
some  opinion.  The  other  collateral ;  that  though  your 
Lordship  make  no  other  use  of  it,  yet  it  is  a  kind  of  por- 
traiture of  that  which  I  think  worthy  to  be  advised  by 
your  Lordship  to  the  King,^  and  perhaps  more  compen- 
dious and  significant  than  if  I  had  set  them  down  in  ar- 
ticles. I  would  have  attended  your  Lordship  but  for 
some  little  physic  I  took.  To-morrow  morning  I  will 
wait  on  you.     So  I  ever,  etc. 

A   PPvOCLAMATIOK    DKAWN    FOR    HIS    MAJESTY'S    FIRST 
COMING   IN,    PREPARED   BUT   NOT   USED. 

Having  great  cause  at  this  time  to  be  moved  with  di- 
versity of  affections,  we  do  in  first  place  condole  with  all 
our  loving  subjects  of  England  for  the  loss  of  their  so 
virtuous  and  excellent  Queen  ;  being  a  prince  that  we 
always  found  a  dear  sister,  yea,  a  mother  to  ourself,  in 
many  her  actions  and  advices  ;  a  prince  whom  we  hold 
and  beliold  as  an  excellent  pattern  and  example  to  imi- 
tat(^  in  many  her  royal  virtues  and  parts  of  government ; 
and  a  })rince  whose  days  we  could  have  wished  to  have 
been  j)r(jlonged  ;  we  rei)orting  ourselves  not  only  to  the 
testimony  of  our  royal  heart,  but  to  the  judgment  (^f  all 
the  world,  whether  tliere  ever  appeared  in  us  any  am- 
hitiouH  or  impatient  desire  to  prevent  God's  ap})ointed 
time.  Neither  are  we  so  partial  to  our  own  honor,  but 
that  we  do  in  great  part  ascribe  this  our  most  peaceable 
and  (piit't  entrance  and  coming  to  these  our  crowns,  next 
under  tlie  blessing  of  Ahnighty  God  and  our  undoubted 
riglit,  to  the  fruit  of  her  Majesty's  peaceable  and  quiet 
government,  accustoming   the   peojjle  to  all   loyalty  and 

•  TIk!  copy  in   tin-   lirnnihiH  adds,    "  to  cxprcsH  himself   iiccovdiii};  lo   IIiuho 
poiiilH  wliiuli  arc  tlii-reiii  curicvived." 


1G01-1G03.]  DRAFT  OF  PROPOSED   PROCLAMATION.  405 

obedience.  As  for  that  which  concerneth  ourselves,  we 
would  have  all  our  loving  subjects  know  that  we  do  not 
take  so  much  gladness  and  contentment  in  the  devolving 
of  these  kingdoms  unto  our  royal  person,  for  any  addi- 
tion or  increase  of  glory,  power,  or  riches,  as  in  this  that 
it  is  so  manifest  an  evidence  unto  us  (especially  the  man- 
ner of  it  considered)  that  we  stand  (though  unworthy) 
in  God's  favor,  who  hath  put  more  means  into  our  hands 
to  reward  our  friends  and  servants,  and  to  pardon  and 
obliterate  injuries,  and  to  comfort  and  relieve  the  hearts 
and  estates  of  our  people  and  loving  subjects,  and  chiefly 
to  advance  the  holy  religion  and  church  of  Almighty 
God,  and  to  deserve  well  of  the  Christian  commonwealth. 
And  more  especially  we  cannot  but  gratulate  and  re- 
joice in  this  one  point,  that  it  hath  pleased  God  to  make 
us  the  instrument  and  as  it  were  the  corner-stone,  to 
unite  these  two  mighty  and  warlike  nations  of  England 
and  Scotland  into  one  kingdom.  For  although  these  two 
nations  are  situate  upon  the  continent  of  one  island,  and 
are  undivided  either  by  seas  or  mountains,  or  by  diver- 
sity of  language  ;  and  although  our  neighbor  kingdoms 
of  Spain  and  France  have  already  had  the  happiness  to 
be  reunited  in  the  several  members  of  those  kingdoms 
formerly  disjoined ;  yet  in  this  island  it  appeareth  not  in 
the  records  of  any  true  history,  no  nor  scarcely  in  the 
conceit  of  any  fabulous  narration  or  tradition,  that  this 
whole  island  of  Great  Brittany  was  ever  united  under 
one  sovereign  prince  before  this  day :  which  as  we  cannot 
but  take  as  a  singular  honor  and  favor  of  God  unto  our- 
selves ;  so  we  may  conceive  good  hope  that  the  kingdoms 
of  Christendom  standing  distributed  and  counterpoised 
as  by  this  last  union  they  now  are,  it  will  be  a  founda- 
tion of  the  universal  peace  of  all  Christian  princes,  and 
that  now  the  strife  that  shall  remain  between  them  shall 
be  but  an  emulation  ^svlio  shall  govern  best  and  most  to 
the  weal  and  good  of  his  people 


406  DRAFT  OF  PROPOSED  PROCLAMATIOX.        [Book  III. 

Another  great  cause  of  our  just  rejoicing  is  the  as- 
sured hope  that  we  conceive,  tliat  whereas  our  kingdom 
of  Ireland  hath  been  so  long  time  torn  and  afflicted  with 
the  miseries  of  wars,  the  making  and  prosecuting  of  which 
wars  hath  cost  such  an  infinite  deal  of  blood  and  treasure 
of  our  realm  of  Enghmd  to  be  spilt  and  consumed  there- 
upon;  we  shall  be  able  throngh  God's  favor  and  assist- 
ance to  put  a  speedy  and  an  honorable  end  to  those  wars. 
And  it  is  our  [)rincely  design  and  full  purpose  and  resolu- 
tion not  only  to  reduce  that  nation  from  their  rebellion 
and  revolt,  but  also  to  reclaim  them  from  their  barbarous 
manners  to  justice  and  the  fear  of  God  ;  and  to  populate, 
]:)lant,  and  make  civil  all  the  provinces  in  that  kingdom  ; 
which  also  being  an  action  that  not  any  of  our  noble 
progenitors  kings  of  England  hath  ever  had  the  happi- 
ness thoroughly  to  prosecute  and  accomplish,  Ave  take  so 
much  to  heart,  as  we  are  persuaded  it  is  one  of  the  chief 
causes  for  the  which  God  hath  brought  us  to  the  imperial 
crown  of  these  kingdoms. 

Further,  we  cannot  but  take  great  comfort  in  the  state 
and  correspondence  which  we  now  stand  in  of  peace  and 
unity  with  all  Christian  princes,  and  otherwise  of  quiet- 
ness and  obedience  of  our  own  people  at  home ;  whereby 
we  shall  not  need  to  espouse  that  our  kingdom  of  Eng- 
laiiil  to  anv  quarrel  or  war,  but  rather  have  occasion  to 
preserve  them  in  j)eace  and  tranciuillity,  and  openness  of 
tiadi!  witii  all  foreign  nations. 

Lastly  and  pi-incii)ally,  w(!  cannot  but  tak(^  unspeakable 
comfort  in  the  gi-eat  and  wonderfid  consent  and  unity, 
joy  and  alaeiity,  wherewith  our  loving  subjecrts  of  our 
kingilom  of  l^ngl;ind  have  received  and  acknowledged  us 
their  natural  and  lawful  k'ing  and  governor,  according  to 
our  most  c-lear  and  midoubted  right,  in  so  quitit  and  set- 
Ih'fl  niann<-r,  as  if  we  \\:\i\  been  long  ago  declared  and 
fstablisiied  suce(!HHor,  and  had  taken  all  men's  oaths  and 
honuiges,  greater  and   moi'e  perfect  unity  :ind   readiness 


1601-1603.]  DRAFT  OF  PROPOSED  PROCLAMATION.  407 

could  not  h:ive  been.  For  considering  with  ourselves  that 
notwithstanding  difference  of  religion,  or  any  other  fac- 
tion, and  notwithstanding  our  absence  so  far  off,  and  not- 
withstanding the  sparing  and  reserved  communicating  of 
one  another's  minds,  yet  all  our  loving  subjects  met  in 
one  thought  and  voice,  without  any  the  least  disturbance 
or  interruption,  yea,  hesitation  or  doubtfulness,  or  any 
show  thereof ;  we  cannot  but  acknowledge  it  is  a  great 
work  of  God,  who  hath  an  immediate  and  extraordinary 
direction  in  the  disposing  of  kingdoms  and  flows  of  peo- 
ple's hearts. 

Wherefore  after  our  most  humble  and  devout  thanks  to 
Almighty  God,  by  whom  kings  reign,  who  hath  estab- 
lished us  king  and  governor  of  these  kingdoms,  we  return 
our  hearty  and  affectionate  thanks  unto  the  Lords  spirit- 
ual and  temporal,  the  knights  and  gentlemen,  the  cities 
and  towns,  and  generally  unto  our  Commons,  and  all  es- 
tates and  degrees  of  that  our  kingdom  of  England,  for 
their  so  acceptable  first-fruits  of  their  obedience  and  loy- 
alties offered  and  performed  in  our  absence;  much  com- 
mending the  great  wisdom,  courage,  and  watchfulness 
used  by  the  Peers  of  that  our  kingdom  (according  to  the 
nobility  of  their  bloods  and  lineages,  many  of  them  min- 
gled with  the  blood  royal,  and  therefore  in  nature  affec- 
tionate to  their  rightful  king)  ;  and  likewise  of  the  coun- 
sellors of  the  late  Queen,  according  to  their  gravity  and 
oath,  and  the  spirit  of  their  good  Mistress  (now  a  glorious 
saint  in  h(>avoii),  in  carrying  and  ordering  our  affairs  with 
that  fidelity,  moderation,  and  consent  which  in  tliem  hath 
well  appeared ;  and  also  the  great  readiness,  concord,  and 
cheerfulness  in  the  principal  knights  and  gentlemen  of 
several  countries,  Avith  the  head  officers  of  great  cities, 
corporations,  and  towns ;  and  do  take  knowledge  by  name 
of  the  readiness  and  good  zeal  of  that  our  chiofest  and 
most  famous  city,  the  city  of  London,  the  chamber  of 
that  our  kingdom  ;  assuring  them  that  we  will  be  unto 


40S  DRAFT  OF  PROPOSED   PROCLAMATION.  [Book  III. 

that  city,  by  all  means  of  confirming  and  increasing  their 
happy  and  wealthy  estate,  not  only  a  just  and  gracious 
sovereign  lord  and  king,  but  a  special  and  bountiful  pa- 
tron and  benefactor. 

And  we  on  our  part,  as  well  in  remuneration  of  all 
their  loyal  and  loving  affections  as  in  discharge  of  our 
princely  office,  do  promise  and  assure  them  that  as  all 
manner  of  estates  have  concurred  and  consented  in  their 
duty  and  zeal  towards  us,  so  it  shall  be  our  continual 
care  and  resolution  to  preserve  and  maintain  every  sev- 
eral estate  in  a  happy  and  flourishing  condition,  without 
confusion  or  overgrowing  of  any  one  to  the  prejudice, 
discontentment,  or  discoui'ageinent  of  the  rest ;  and  gen- 
erally, in  all  estates  we  hope  God  will  strengthen  and 
assist  us  not  only  to  extirpate  all  gross  and  notorious 
abuses  and  corruptions,  of  simonies,  briberies,  extortions, 
exactions,  oppressions,  vexations,  burdensome  payments 
and  overcharges,  and  the  like  ;  but  further  to  extend  our 
princely  care  to  the  supply  of  the  very  neglects  and  omis- 
sions of  anything  that  may  tend  to  the  good  of  our 
people ;  so  that  every  place  and  service  that  is  fit  for  the 
honor  or  good  of  the  commonwealth  shall  be  filled,  and 
no  man's  virtue  left  idle,  unemployed,  or  unrewarded  ; 
and  every  good  ordinance  and  constitution  for  the  amend- 
ment of  the  estate  and  times  be  revived  and  put  in  ex- 
ecution. 

In  the  mean  time,  minding  by  G(jd's  leave  (all  delay 
set  apart)  to  comfort  and  secure  our  loving  subjects  in 
our  kingdom  of  England  by  our  personal  presence  there, 
we  refpiire  all  our  loving  subjects  joyfully  to  expect  the 
same  ;  and  yet  so,  as  we  signify  our  will  and  pleasure  to 
be,  that  all  sueli  ceremonies  and  preparations  as  shall  be 
made  and  used  to  flo  us  lionor,  or  to  express  gratulation, 
be  ratlier  comely  and  orderly  than  sumptuous  and  glo- 
rious; and  for  the  exj)r»'SHing  of  niagnific(?nce,  that  it  be 
rather  emjdoyed  and  bestowed  upon  the  funeral  of  the 


1601-1003.]  n;(Xi:::nixGS  of  the  council.  409 

late  Queen,  to  whose  memory  we  are  of  opinion  too  much 
honor  cannot  be  done  or  performed. 

The  chief  inconvenience  which  actually  resulted  from 
the  want  of  an  acknowledged  successor  to  the  Crown  was, 
that  authority  derived  from  the  Queen  dying  with  her, 
and  James  being  four  hundred  miles  away,  there  must  be 
an  interval  of  at  least  a  week  during  which  none  of  the 
officers  of  state  could  be  formally  authorized  to  execute 
his  functions.  The  only  disorder,  however,  which  arose 
from  this  cause  appears  to  have  been  confined  within 
the  walls  of  the  council-chamber  itself,  and  to  have  been 
kept  so  well  within  bounds  that  our  only  knowledge  of 
it  comes  from  the  report  of  a  French  ambassador  at  the 
time,  and  a  collector  of  gossip  in  the  next  generation. 
On  the  authority  of  the  French  ambassador,  we  are  told 
that  the  right  of  the  Council  to  act  was  formally  dis- 
puted by  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  and  that  the  Lord 
Keeper  offered,  on  behalf  of  himself  and  such  of  the 
Councillors  as  were  not  members  of  the  Upper  House, 
to  resign  to  the  Lords  their  seats  at  the  head  of  the 
table.i  On  the  authority  of  Aubrey,  we  learn  that  "  at 
a  consultation  at  Whitehall,  after  Queen  Elizabeth's 
death,  how  matters  were  to  be  ordered  and  what  ought 
to  be  done.  Sir  Walter  Ralegh  declared  his  opinion  that 
'twas  the  wisest  way  for  them  to  keep  the  government  in 
their  own  hands,  and  set  up  a  commonwealth,  and  not  be 
subject  to  a  needy  and  beggarl}'-  nation."  -     The  author- 

1  Gardiner,  i.  54.  An  English  narrative,  apparently  official,  represents  the 
Lord  Keeper  as  offering,  on  behalf  of  himself  and  the  Councillors  who  were  not 
peers,  to  take  the  lower  place  at  the  table,  but  says  nothing  of  any  dispute  about 
their  authority.  "But  as  tlie}'  began  to  sit  in  Council  in  the  Privy  L'hainber  at 
Whitehall,  the  Lord  Keeper,  Sir  Thomas  Egerton,  and  the  rest  of  the  Council 
that  were  no  Barons,  offered  to  sit  at  the  lower  end  of  the  Council  table,  and  not 
above  any  of  the  meanest  nobility;  but  the  noblemen,  in  respect  of  their  former 
authority,  called  them  to  the  higher  end  of  the  table,  and  wished  them  to  keep 
their  places."  —  .\dd.  MSS.  178G,  5,  b.  The  ambassador's  story  would  easily 
grow  out  of  this. 

2  Aubrey,  ii.,  p.  51-5. 


410  BACON  AND  SOUTHAMPTON.  [Book  III. 

ity  is  not  worth  much  in  either  case  ;  but  if  anything  of 
this  kind  really  occurred,  —  and  it  does  not  appear  that 
any  Englishman  of  the  time  had  heard  of  it,  —  Ralegh's 
proposal  could  only  be  meant  and  taken  as  a  jest,  and  the 
Lord  KcejDer's  offer  was  of  course  declined.  The  Coun- 
cil continued  not  only  to  act  during  the  interregnum,  but 
to  act  with  vigor ;  and  the  King  made  the  interval  as 
short  as  possible  by  immediately  directing  that  all  per- 
sons in  office  at  the  Queen's  death  should  so  continue 
till  his  further  pleasure  were  known  ;  a  direction  which 
appears  to  have  included  everybody  concerned,  except 
Bacon. 

Bacon  had  for  some  years  been  employed  and  described 
as  one  of  the  Learned  Counsel ;  but  it  was  by  the  verbal 
order  of  the  Queen  ;  he  had  never  been  sworn  in,  and 
had  no  written  warrant.  Not  being  now  mentioned  by 
name  in  the  King's  letters,  and  not  coming  properly  un- 
der the  description  of  a  person  "in  office  at  the  Queen's 
death,"  he  was  in  effect  l("ft  out.  The  omission,  however, 
was  altogether  accidental,  and,  as  soon  as  the  King  was 
infornjed  of  it,  was  supplied  at  once. 

Of  Bacon's  personal  relations  with  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton, whose  release  was  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
new  reign,  we  know  little  or  nothing.  The  intimate  con- 
nection of  both  with  the  Earl  of  Essex  must,  no  doubt, 
have  brought  them  together ;  but  no  letters  liad  passed 
between  them  that  I  know  of,  nor  has  any  record  been 
preserved  of  any  otiier  communication.  In  drawing  up 
the  ''  Declaration  of  Treasons,"  Bactm  had  mentioned  his 
name  a.s  slightly  as  it  was  possible;  to  do  without  misrep- 
njstmting  the  cas(!  in  one  of  its  most  material  features; 
and  there  is  aouw.  reason  to  believe  that  he  had  used  his 
private  iiillucnrc  with  tiie  (^ueen  after  tiie  trial,  as  Cecil 
iiufj  N<jttingh;iiii  h;id  <'('itainly  done,'    (o  mitigate  her  dis- 

'  "  Wns  if  oiiylimly  <'lw,"  wrotn  tho  Iu»rl  of  Norllinml)iTlan(l  to  James,  in  tlie 
lecrct  corrcupoMflcnce,  sppaking  of  fecil,  "  that  saved  Southampton?  "  —  Corre- 


1601-1003.]  BACOX  AND   SOUTHAMPTON.  411 

pleasure.  Yet  considering  the  circumstances  under  which 
they  had  last  seen  each  other,  it  was  too  much  to  expect 
that  Southampton  (ayIio  did  not  know  what  had  passed 
since)  was  prepared  to  regard  him  as  a  friend;  and  there 
were  two  ways  in  which  Bacon  might  easily  commit  an 
error.  Others  were  visitino-  him  with  congratulations 
upon  his  approaching  liberation.  It  was  natural  that  he 
should  do  the  same  ;  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he 
was  really  glad  of  it ;  and  if  Southampton  was  disposed 
to  take  a  true  view  of  the  case  and  to  be  friends,  it  would 
seem  churlish  and  unfriendly  to  stand  aloof.  But  if,  on 
the  contrary,  he  saw  the  case  with  the  eyes  of  his  former 
associates,  and  regarded  Bacon  as  the  ungrateful  and  un- 
generous enemy  of  his  friend  and  himself,  then  it  would 
seem  indelicate  and  unfeeling  to  intrude  on  him.  He 
thought  it  best  therefore  to  begin  with  a  letter,  excusing 
his  won-attendance  and  explaining  the  reasons  of  it.  The 
letter  which  he  wrote  is  preserved  in  his  own  collection 
and  runs  thus  :  — 

A  LETTER  TO  THE  EARL  OF   SOUTHAMPTON,  UPON   THE 
king's    COlNnNG  IN. 

It  may  PLEASE  YOUR  LoRDSHip,  —  I  would  have 
been  very  glad  to  have  presented  my  humble  service  to 
your  Lordship  by  my  attendance,  if  I  could  have  foreseen 
that  it  should  not  have  been  unpleasing  unto  you.  And 
therefore,  because  I  would  commit  no  error,  I  choose  to 
write ;  assuring  your  Loi'dship  (how  credible  soever  it 
may  seem  to  you  at  first,  yet  it  is  as  true  as  a  thing  that 
God  knoweth)  that  this  great  change  hath  wrought  in 
me  no  other  change  towards  your  Lordship  than  this, 
that  I  may  safely  be  now  that  which  I  was  truly  before. 

qxmdence,  etc.,  Camd.  Soc,  p.  68.  "Those  that  would  deal  for  him,"  writes 
Cecil  to  SirG.  Carew  "  (of  which  number  I  protest  to  God  I  am  one  as  far  as  I 
dare),  are  much  disadvantaged  of  arguments  to  save  him." 

"  For  the  Earl  of  Southampton, "  writes  Nottingham  to  Mont  joy,  "  tiiough  he 
be  condemned,  yet  I  hope  well  for  his  life;  for  Mr.  Secretary  and  myself  use  all 
?ur  wits  and  power  for  it." 


412  BACON  AND   SOUTHAMPTON.  [Booic  III. 

And  so  craving  no  other  pardon  than  for  troubling  you 
with  this  letter,  I  do  not  now  begin,  but  continue  to  be 
Your  Lordship's  humble  and  much  devoted. 

Southampton  was  released  from  the  Tower  on  the  10th 
of  April ;  which  determines  within  a  few  days  the  date 
of  the  last  letter.  Of  the  reception  which  it  met  with, 
I  find  no  account  anywhere. 

Meanwhile  the  news  which  Bacon  received  from  his 
friends  in  the  Scotch  Court  appears  to  have  been  favor- 
able ;  sufficiently  so.  at  least,  to  encourage  him  to  seek  a 
personal  interview  with  the  King.  I  cannot  find  the  exact 
date,  but  it  will  be  seen  from  the  next  letter  that,  before 
the  King  arrived  in  London,  he  had  gone  to  meet  him, 
carrying  a  despatch  from  the  Earl  of  Northumberland ; 
and  that  he  had  been  admitted  to  his  presence.  The 
copy  of  tliis  letter  in  the  British  Museum  MS.  is  in  the 
same  hand  as  the  rest  of  the  vohime,  but  is  distinguished 
from  th(^  others  by  liaving  a  few  corrections  and  inter- 
lineations in  another  hand,  whicli  I  believe  to  be  Bacon's 
own ;  though  I  cannot  speak  with  perfect  confidence. 
His  handwriting  varied  very  mucli,  —  according,  I  sup- 
pose, to  pens,  attitudes,  moods,  and  times, — and  a  few 
words  inserted  here  and  there  are  often  difficult  to  iden- 
tify. But  it  is  certainly  not  the  hand  of  the  transcriber  ; 
tlie  alterations  are  of  a  kind  which  it  is  not  likely  that 
anybody  else  would  have  made  (no  alteration  being  ap- 
parently required  by  the  sense  or  grammar)  ;  and  it  is 
likely  enougli,  considering  liis  subsequiMit  relations  with 
James,  that  he  may  have  looked  back  some  time  in  his 
later  life,  with  great  curiosity  and  interest  to  this  fresli 
record  c>f  his  first  impressions  of  him,  and  made  the  cor- 
rectif)ns  (iithcr  fiom  memory  or  taste,  or  IVoin  a  better 
copy  of  th(^  original  \vhii;h  niay  have  accidentally  turned 
up.  I  h<'y  arc  not  at  all  maf'Tial  in  substance,  but  are 
ju.st  su(;h  changf.s  as  he   would   naturally  have  made  in 


1601-1603.]     BACON'S   FIRST  IMPRESSIONS   OF  THE  KING.       413 

writing  a  fair  copy  from  a  first  draft.  The  text  repre- 
sents the  letter  as  corrected  ;  the  notes  as  it  stood  in  the 
original  transcript. 

A  LETTER  TO  THE  EARL  OF  NORTHUMBERLAND  AFTER 
HE  HAD  BEEN  WITH  THE  KLNG. 

It  may  please  your  good  Lordship,  —  I  would  not 
have  lost  this  journey,  and  yet  I  have  not  that  for  which 
I  went.i  For  I  have  had  no  private  conference  to  any 
purpose  ^  with  the  King  ;  and  ^  no  more  hath  almost  any 
other  English.  For  the  speech  his  Majesty  admitteth 
with  some  noblemen  is  rather  matter  of  grace  than  of  "^ 
business.  With  the  Attorney  lie  spake,  being  ^  urged  by 
the  Treasurer  of  Scotland,  but  yet  no  more  ^  than  needs 
must.  After  I  had  received  his  Majesty's  first  welcome, 
I  ">  was  promised  private  access ;  but  ^  yet,  not  knowing 
what  matter  of  service  your  Lordship's  letter  might 
carry  ^  (for  I  saw  it  not),  and  well  knowing  that  prime- 
ness  in  advertisement  is  much,  I  chose  i-ather  to  deliver 
it  to  Sir  Thomas  Erskins,  than  to  cool  it  in  my  hands, 
upon  expectation  of  access.  Your  Lordship  shall  find  a 
prince  the  farthest  from  the  appearance  of  vain-glory  ^^ 
that  may  be,  and  rather  like  a  prince  of  the  ancient  form 
than  of  the  latter  time.  His  speech  is  swift  and  cursory, 
and  in  the  full  dialect  of  his  country  ;  and  in  point  ^^  of 
business,  short ;  in  point  ^^  of  discourse,  large.  He  affect- 
eth  popularity  by  gracing  such  as  he  hath  heard  to  be 
popular,  and  not  by  any  fashions  of  his  own.  He  is 
thought  somewhat  general  in  his  favors,  and  his  virtue 
of  access  is  rather  because  he  is  much  abroad  and  in 
press,  than  that  he  giveth  easy  audience  about  serious 
things. ^3     He  hasteneth  to  a  mixture  of  both  kingdoms 

1  that  T  went  for.        2  to  purpose.  8  and,  oin.  *  matter  of . 

5  beinij,  oil).                   6  },ut  no  more.  ''  ami.  8  l^ut,  oiii. 

^  carried.                     ^^  from  vain-fjlory.  n  speech.  1-  speech. 
'-  about  serious  things,  oni. 


414         BACON'S  FIRST  IMPRESSIONS   OF  THE   KING.     [Book  III. 

iuul  nations,  faster  perhaps  than  policy  will  conven- 
iently 1  bear.  I  told  your  Lordship  once  before,  that 
(methought)  his  Majesty  rather  asked  counsel  of  the 
time  past  than  of  the  time  to  come.  But  it  is  early  yet 
to  ground  any  settled  opinion.  For  the  particularities  I 
refer  to  conference,  having  in  these  generals  gone  further 
in  so  tender  an  argument  than  I  would  iiave  done,  were 
not  both  the  reader  and  the  bearer  assured.^ 

James's  arrival  in  England  brought  no  immediate  pros- 
pect of  improvement  in  Bacon's  fortunes.  Nor  was  it 
likely  that  it  should.  "  Every  new  King,"  James  thought, 
"  ought  at  least  to  let  a  year  and  a  day  pass  before  he 
made  any  innovation  ;  "  and  he  naturally  left  the  admin- 
istration of  affairs  in  the  hands  in  which  he  found  it. 
He  made  two  or  tlu-ee  new  councillors ;  gave  the  Mas- 
tership of  the  Rolls,  which  was  still  vacant,  to  Edward 
Bruce,  Abbot  of  Kinloss  ;  removed  Sfr  Walter  Ralegh 
(probably  not  without  what  seemed  the  best  advice) 
from  tlie  Captaincy  of  the  Guard,  putting  in  his  place 
Sir  Thomas  Erskine  (his  own  Captain  of  the  Guard), 
but  giving  him  at  the  same  time  a  considerable  pecuniary 
compensation  ;  ])laced  two  or  three  of  his  Scotch  friends 
immediately  about  his  person  ;  but  made  no  more  changes 
of  importance. 

Bacon  was  for  the  present  to  "continue  to  be  of  the 
Learned  (younsel  in  such  manner  as  before  he  was  to  the 
Queen."  liut  though  this  seemed  like  leaving  his  posi- 
tion unchiinged,  the  practical  effect  was  to  give  him  a  pros- 
pect of  more  leisure.  For  his  place  among  the  Leained 
Counsel  being  an  irregular  one  without  any  ordinary  du- 
ties belonging  to  it  as  of  course,  his  em|)loyment  de- 
oended  upon  l]u>  pleasure  of  thos(^  who  had  the;  hiyiiig 
out  nf  tlir  liusinesH.  In  this  the  Queen  herself  li;id  l)een 
used  to  take  ;i  part,  and  by  her  direction  h<;  hail  in  tiuH 

'   well.  -  wi  re  not  lite  funrer  hereof  so  fissured.     So  I  continue. 


1601-1G03.]  MONEY   MATTERS.  415 

irreguliir  way  been  continually  employed  for  many  years. 
It  would  not  be  so  now.  James,  to  whom  the  business 
and  the  persons  were  alike  new,  would  naturally  leave 
such  arrangements,  at  least  for  a  while,  to  Coke,  who  was 
not  at  all  likely  to  want  Bacon's  help ;  nor  is  there  any 
reason  to  think  that  Cecil,  who  kept  the  lead  in  council, 
and  soon  left  the  Earl  of  Northumberland  in  the  shadow, 
would  go  much  out  of  his  way  to  put  him  forward. 
What  he  had  to  do  therefore  was  merely  to  hold  himself 
in  readiness  in  case  he  were  wanted  ;  to  recommend  him- 
self to  the  King  by  such  services  or  advices  as  he  could 
offer  without  impropriety  ;  to  make  the  most  of  the  in- 
terval of  leisure  for  the  great  purpose  to  which  all  his 
leisure  had  long  been  dedicated ;  and  before  all,  if  not 
above  all,  to  clear  oflt'  all  remains  of  debt  and  bring  his 
living  within  his  income. 

The  last-mentioned  object  was  first  in  importance,  and 
was  (not  perhaps  unfortunately)  first  forced  upon  him 
by  an  accident  of  which  the  general  character  may  be 
gathered  from  the  next  letter,  though  none  of  the  partic- 
ulars are  otherwise  known. 

We  have  seen  that  he  had  been  occupied  since  his 
brother's  death  in  endeavoring  to  settle  some  of  his  prin- 
cipal debts.  It  seems,  however,  that  he  had  not  pro- 
ceeded fast  enough.  For  in  the  summer  of  1603  he  had 
to  apply  to  Cecil  for  help  in  some  scrape ;  similar,  appar- 
ently, to  that  of  1598,  when  he  was  arrested  on  his  way 
from  the  Tower  by  Sympson,  the  goldsmith.^  Something 
had  been  done  to  him  which  he  conceived  to  be  an  ii»7a- 
sion  of  the  privilege  of  his  office,  and  therefore  an  affiont 
to  the  King's  service ;  and  it  had  relation  to  some  money 
transaction.  And  this  is  all  we  know  about  it.  The  let- 
ter itself,  however,  which  reveals  the  fact  (and  which 
comes  from  the  Hatfield  collection,  where  it  was  found 
by  Murdin,  who  sent  a  copy  to  Birch)  is  unusually  inter- 

1  Ante,  p.  2.31. 


416  moni:y  matters:  help  from  cecil.      [Book  hi. 

esting,  as  showing  how  liis  private  affairs  stood  at  the 
time,  and  what  he  was  now  doing  to  set  them  straight ; 
and  also  as  throwing  further  light  on  his  relations  with 
Cecil ;  who,  on  this  occasion  at  least,  was  giving  some- 
thing more  substantial  than  words,  —  preferring  possibly 
a  way  of  obliging  him  which  deserved  his  gratitude  with- 
out risking  his  rivalry. 

TO  ROBERT,   LORD   CECIL. 

It  may  please  your  good  Lordship,  —  They  say 
late  thanks  ai*e  ever  best.  But  the  reason  was,  I  thought 
to  have  seen  your  Lordship  ere  this.  Howsoever,  I  shall 
never  forget  this  your  last  favor  amongst  others ;  and 
it  grieveth  me  not  a  little,  that  I  find  myself  of  no  use  to 
such  an  honorable  and  kind  friend. 

For  that  matter,  I  think  I  shall  desire  your  assistance 
for  the  punishment  of  the  contempt;  not  that  I  would 
use  the  privilege  in  future  time,  but  because  I  would 
not  have  the  dignity  of  the  King's  service  prejudiced  in 
my  instance.  But  herein  I  will  be  ruled  by  your  Lord- 
ship. 

It  is  fit  likewise,  though  much  against  my  mind,  that  I 
let  your  Lordship  know  that  I  shall  not  b(!  able  to  pay 
the  money  within  the  time  by  your  Lordship  under- 
taken, which  was  a  fortnight.  Nay,  money  1  find  so  hard 
to  come  by  at  this  time,  as  I  thought  to  have  become  an 
humble  suitor  to  your  Honor  to  have  sustained  me  with 
your  credit  for  the  present  from  urgent  debts,  with  tak- 
ing up  £-\()0  till  I  can  put  away  some  land.  But  I  am  so 
forward  with  some  sales,  as  this  request  I  hope  I  may 
forbear. 

For  my  estate,  (because  your  Honor  iiath  care  of  it),  it 
is  thus:  I  shall  l)e  able  with  selling  the  skirts  of  my 
living  in  Hertfordshire  to  preserve  the  body;  and  to 
leavi^  myself,  being  chjarly  out  of  d(^bt,  and  having  some 
money  in  my  pocket,  X'-W)  land  per  annum,  with  a  fair 


1601-1003.]  HELP  FROM   CECIL.  417 

hou.se,  and  tlie  ground  well  timbered.     This  is  now  my 
labor. 

For  my  purpose  or  course,  I  desire  to  meddle  as  little 
as  I  can  in  the  King's  causes,  his  Majesty  now  abounding 
in  counsel ;  and  to  follow  my  private  thrift  and  practice, 
and  to  marry  with  some  convenient  advancement.  For 
as  for  au}^  ambition,  I  do  assure  your  Honor  mine  is 
quenched.  In  the  Queen's,  my  excellent  Mistress's,  time 
the  quorum  was  small ;  her  service  was  a  kind  of  free- 
hold, and  it  was  a  more  solemn  time.  All  those  points 
agreed  with  my  nature  and  judgment.  My  ambition 
now  I  shall  only  put  upon  my  pen,  whereby  I  shall  be 
able  to  maintain  memory  and  merit  of  the  times  suc- 
ceeding. 

Lastly,  for  this  divulged  and  almost  prostituted  title 
of  knighthood,  I  could  without  charge,  by  your  Honor's 
mean,  be  content  to  have  it,  both  because  of  this  late 
disgrace,  and  because  I  have  three  new  knights  in  my 
mess  in  Gray's-Inn  commons ;  and  because  I  have  found 
out  an  alderman's  daughter,  an  handsome  maiden,  to  my 
liking.^  So  as  if  your  Honor  will  find  the  time,  I  will 
come  to  the  court  from  Gorhambuiy  upon  any  warning. 

How  my  sales  go  forward,  your  Lordship  shall  in  a  few 
days  hear.  Meanwhile,  if  you  will  not  be  pleased  to 
take  further  day  with  this  lewd  fellow,  I  hope  your 
Lordship  will  not  suffer  him  to  take  any  part  of  the 
penalty,  but  principal,  interest,  and  costs. 

So  I  remain  your  Lordship's  most  bounden 

Fk.  Bacon. 

3  July,  1603. 

Cecil's  answer  to  this  letter  has  not  been  preserved. 
But  it  may  be  inferred  from  Bacon's  reply  (which  comes 
from  the  same  collection)  that  it  was  not  only  friendly 
as  regarded  the  particular  case,  but  containinl  also  some 

^  Of  Bacon's  marringe  with  the  aldennar.'s  (huighttr,  see  [luM,  p.  483. 
VOL.  I.  27 


418  PRIVATE  AFFAIRS.  [Book  III. 

general  intimation  that  his  professional  services  would  be 
wanted. 

TO   THE   SAME. 

It  may  please  your  good  "Lordship,  —  In  answer 
of  your  last  letter,  your  money  shall  be  ready  before  your 
day ;  principal,  interest,  and  costs  of  suit.  So  the  sheriff 
promised,  when  I  I'eleased  errors ;  and  a  Jew  takes  no 
more.  The  rest  cannot  be  forgotten ;  for  I  cannot  for- 
get your  Lordship's  dum  memor  ipse  mei ;  and  if  there 
have  been  aliquid  nimis,  it  shall  be  amended.  And,  to 
be  plain  with  your  Lordship,  that  will  quicken  me  now, 
which  slackened  me  befoie.  Then  I  thought  you  might 
have  had  more  use  of  me,  than  now  I  suppose  you  are  like 
to  have.  Not  but  I  think  the  impediment  will  be  rather 
in  my  mind  than  in  tlie  matter  or  times.  But  to  do  you 
service,  I  will  come  out  of  my  religion  at  any  time. 

For  my  knighthood,  I  wish  the  manner  might  be  such 
as  might  grace  me,  since  the  matttu-  will  not;  I  mean, 
that  I  might  not  be  merely  gregarious  in  a  troop.  The 
coronation  is  at  hand.  It  may  please  your  Lonlship  to 
let  me  hear  from  you  speedily.  So  I  continue 
Your  Lordsliip's  ever  much  bounden 

Fr.  Bacon. 

From  GoiCHAMBUUy,  this  IGth  of  July,  160.']. 

Bacon  obtained  his  title,  but  not  in  a  manner  to  distin- 
guish him.  He  was  knighted  at  Wliitehall,  on  the;  li-'UI 
of  July,  two  days  bcjfore  tlie  coronation,  but  had  to  share 
th(;  honor  with  thi'ce  hundred  othcis. 

Aft(;i"  this  I  liml  no  more  Icitds  for  a  good  wliile  ;  nor 
imicrd  (until  iIk;  nicc-ting  of  I'arliiimcnt  on  tiu;  iDth  of 
Mar(tli,  1(5<):'>-1)  any  fin-ther  news  oi  liis  procMM^dings.  I 
imagine,  liowi-vei-,  that  (he  intervening  months  were 
among  the  jjusiest  and  most  exciting  that  \h\  even-  passed. 
For  (his  is  the.  tinn^  when  I  su))|)os(^  liim  (o  have  con- 
ceived (he  d(!slgM  of  (lirowing  his  tlioiiL;lit.s  on  ])hi]osopliy 


1001-1003.]  THE   KINGDOM  OF  MAN.  419 

and  intellectnal  progress  into  a  popular  form,  and  invit- 
ing the  cooperation  of  mankind. 

His  old  idea  of  finding  a  better  method  of  studying 
the  laws  of  Nature,  having  no  doubt  undergone  in  the 
endeavor  to  realize  it  many  modifications,  had  at  last 
taken  the  shape  of  a  treatise  in  two  parts.  The  first  part 
was  to  be  called  Experieyitia  Literata,  and  was  to  con- 
tain an  exposition  of  the  art  of  experimenting ;  that  is, 
of  proceeding  in  scientific  order  from  one  experiment  to 
another,  making  the  answer  to  one  question  suggest  the 
question  to  be  asked  next.  The  second  part  was  to  be 
called  Interpretatio  Naturce,  and  was  to  explain  the 
method  of  arriving  by  degrees  at  axioms^  or  general 
principles  in  nature  ;  thence  by  the  light  of  those  axioms 
proceeding  to  new  experiments;  and  so  finally  to  the  dis- 
covery of  all  the  secrets  of  nature's  operation,  —  which 
would  include  the  command  over  her  forces.  This  great 
speculation  he  had  now  digested  in  his  head  into  these 
two  parts,  and  "proposed  hereafter  to  propound."  And 
being  a  man  whose  mind  found  relief  in  utterance, 
though  it  were  only  to  a  piece  of  paper  in  his  cabinet, 
he  drew  up  (either  at,  or  about,  or  at  any  rate  with  refer- 
ence to  this  time)  a  short  prefatory  address  ;  which,  had 
the  work  itself  been  then  completed  according  to  the 
design,  would,  I  suppose,  have  stood  as  the  introduction. 

As  an  exposition  of  the  design  it  was  superseded  by 
completer  prefaces  of  later  date,  and  was  therefore  not 
inchided  among  the  philosophical  works  selected  for  trans- 
lation. But  as  bearing  upon  the  history  of  hisbwn  career 
it  has  a  peculiar  value ;  revealing  as  it  does  an  authentic 
glimpse  of  that  large  portion  of  his  life  which,  though  to 
him  as  real  as  the  rest  and  far  more  profoundly  interest- 
ing, scarcely  shows  itself  among  these  records  of  his  career 
as  a  man  of  business,  and  is  in  danger  of  being  forgotten. 
And  I  do  not  know  how  I  can  better  help  my  readers  to 
conceive   the    thing  and    to  give  it  its  due  prominence 


420  THE   KINGDOM   OF  MAN.  [Book  III. 

among  his  purposes  and  performances,  than  by  inserting 
a  translation  of  it  in  this  place.  Of  the  practicability  of 
the  enteqjrise  and  the  reasonableness  of  the  expectation, 
I  say  nothing  ;  that  question  has  been  discussed  in  its 
proper  place,  and  need  not  concern  us  here.  What  we 
have  to  understand  and  remember  is  the  nature  of  the 
enterprise,  and  the  fact  that  he  believed  it  practicable. 
He  believed  that  he  had  by  accident  stumbled  upon  a 
thought  which  duly  followed  out  would  in  the  course  of 
generations  make  man  the  master  of  all  natural  forces. 
The  "  Interpretation  of  Nature "  was,  according  to  his 
speculation,  the  "  Kingdom  of  Many  ^  To  plant  this 
thought  in  men's  minds  under  such  conditions  that  it 
should  have  the  best  chance  of  growing  and  bearing  its 
proper  fruit  in  due  season  was  the  great  aspiration  of  his 
life  ;  and  though  diverted,  interrupted,  and  baffled  by  a 
lumdred  impediments,  internal  and  external, — by  in- 
firmities of  body  and  of  mind,  by  his  own  business  and 
other  people's,  by  clients,  creditors,  and  sheriff's  officers, 
by  the  impracticability  (say  the  wise)  of  the  problem 
itself,  owing  to  a  fundamental  misconception  of  the  case, 
by  an  imperfection  (as  I  think)  in  his  own  intellectual 
organization,  which  placed  him  at  a  disadvantage  in  deal- 
ing with  many  parts  of  it,  —  he  never  doubted  that  the 
thing  might  be  done  if  men  would  but  think  so,  and  that 
it  was  his  mission  to  make  them  think  so  and  point  out 
the  way.  And  though  many  and  many  a  day  must  have 
closed  without  showing  any  sensible  progress  in  the 
work,  I  suppose  not  a  single  day  went  down  in  which  he 
ilid  not  remember  with  a  sigh,  or  a  resolution,  or  a  prayer, 
that  the  work  was  still  undone.  On  one  of  these  days, 
his  imiigination,  wandering  far  into  the  future,  showed 
him  in  vision  the  first  installment  ready  for  publication, 
and  sf't  him  upon  thinking  how  Ik^  should   announce  it  to 

1  Iiidii'ia  vi-ra  dt  Inlirj/rilniione  Naturve,  (^ive  (/c  liet/no  llominis.     Title  of 
the  Novum  Ortjnnum. 


1601-1003.]     PREFACE  FOR  DE  INTERPRETATIOXE  NATUR.E.  421 

the  world.  The  result  of  this  niedittition  he  fortunately 
oonfided  to  a  sheet  of  paper,  which,  being  found  long 
after  in  his  cabinet,  revealed  the  secret  which  it  had  kept. 
The  original  is  written  in  stately  Latin,  but  for  our  pres- 
ent purpose  the  following  translation,  though  in  spirit 
and  effect  a  poor  copy,  may  serve  sufficiently  well. 

OF   THE   ESfTERPRETATIOX   OF   NATURE. 
Proem. 

Believing  that  I  was  born  for  the  service  of  mankind, 
and  regarding  the  care  of  the  commonwealth  as  a  kind 
of  common  property  which  like  the  air  and  the  water 
belongs  to  everybody,  I  set  myself  to  consider  in  what 
way  mankind  might  be  best  served,  aud  what  service  I 
was  myself  best  fitted  by  nature  to  perform. 

Now  among  all  the  benefits  that  could  be  conferred 
upon  mankind,  I  found  none  so  great  as  the  discovery  of 
new  arts,  endowments,  and  commodities  for  the  betterino; 

o 

of  man's  life.  For  I  saw  that  among  the  rude  people  in 
the  primitive  times  the  authors  of  rude  inventions  and 
discoveries  were  consecrated  and  numbered  among  the 
gods.  And  it  was  plain  that  the  good  effects  wi'ought 
by  founders  of  cities,  law-givers,  fathers  of  the  people, 
extirpers  of  tyrants,  and  heroes  of  that  class,  extend  but 
over  narrow  spaces  and  last  but  for  short  times  ;  whereas 
the  work  of  the  inventor,  though  a  thing  of  less  pomp  and 
show,  is  felt  everywhere  and  lasts  forever.  But  above 
all,  if  a  man  could  succeed,  not  in  striking  out  some 
particular  invention,  however  useful,  but  in  kindling  a 
light  in  nature,  —  a  light  which  should  in  its  very  rising 
touch  and  illuminate  all  the  border-regions  that  confine 
upon  the  circle  of  our  present  knowledge  ;  and  so  spread- 
ing further  and  further  should  presently  disclose  and 
bring  into  sight  all  that  is  most  hidden  and  secret  in 
the  world,  —  that  man  (I  thought)  would  be  the  bene- 
factor indeed  of  the  human  race,  the  propagator  of  man's 


422    PREFACE  FOR  DE  INTERPRETATIONE  NATURE.   L^iooK  III. 

empire  over  the  universe,  the  champion  of  liberty,  the 
conqueror  and  subduer  of  necessities. 

For  myself,  I  found  that  I  was  fitted  for  nothing  so 
well  as  for  the  study  of  Truth  ;  as  having  a  mind  nimble 
and  versatile  enough  to  catch  the  resemblances  of  things 
(which  is  the  chief  point),  and  at  the  same  time  steady 
enough  to  fix  nnd  distinguish  their  subtler  differences; 
as  being  gifted  by  nature  with  desire  to  seek,  patience  to 
doubt,  fondness  to  meditate,  slowness  to  assert,  readiness 
to  reconsider,  carefulness  to  dispose  and  set  in  order  ; 
and  as  being  a  man  that  neither  affects  what  is  new  nor 
admires  what  is  old,  and  that  hates  every  kind  of  impos- 
ture. So  I  thought  my  nature  had  a  kind  of  familiarity 
and  relationship  with  Truth. 

Nevertheless,  because  my  birth  and  education  had 
seasoned  me  in  business  of  state  ;  and  because  opinions 
(so  young  as  I  was)  would  sometimes  stagger  me ;  and 
because  I  thought  that  a  man's  own  country  has  some 
special  claims  upon  him  more  than  the  rest  of  the  world  ; 
and  because  I  hoped  that,  if  I  rose  to  any  place  of  honor 
in  the  state,  I  should  have  a  larger  command  of  industry 
and  ability  to  help  me  in  my  work,  —  for  these  reasons  I 
both  applied  myself  to  acquire  the  arts  of  civil  life,  and 
commended  my  service,  so  far  as  in  modesty  and  honesty 
I  might,  to  the  favor  of  such  friends  as  had  any  influence. 
In  which  also  I  had  another  motive:  for  I  felt  that  those 
things  I  have  spoken  of —  be  they  great  or  small  —  reach 
no  further  than  the  condition  and  culture  of  this  mortal 
life  ;  and  I  was  not  without  hope  (the  condition  of  Re- 
ligion being  at  that  time  not  very  prosperous)  that  if  I 
came  to  hold  ojlice  in  the  state,  I  might  get  something 
don(;  too  foi-  the  good  of  men's  souls. 

\\  In  II  I  toinid,  however,  that  mv  /.eal  was  mistaken  for 
aiiil)itioii,  and  my  life  had  already  reached  the  turning- 
jioiiit,  and  my  breaking  lir;ilth  ri'iniiuled  nw.  how  ill  I 
could  alTord  to  be  so  shjw,  and   I   reflected  moreover  that 


1()01-1G03.]  PREFACE  FOR  DE  INTERPRETATIONE  NATUR-S:.  423 

in  leaving  undone  the  good  that  I  could  do  by  myself 
alone,  and  applying  myself  to  that  which  could  not  be 
done  witliout  the  help  and  consent  of  others,  I  was  by  no 
means  discharging  the  duty  that  lay  upon  me, — I  puC 
all  those  thoughts  aside,  and  (in  pursuance  of  my  old  de- 
termination) betook  myself  wholly  to  this  work.  Nor  am 
I  discouraged  from  it  because  I  see  signs  in  the  times  oi' 
the  decline  and  overthrow  of  that  knowledge  and  erudi- 
tion which  is  now  in  use.  Not  that  I  apprehend  any 
more  barbarian  invasions  (unless  possibly'  the  Spanish 
empire  should  recover  its  strength,  and  having  crushed 
other  nations  by  arms  should  itself  sink  under  its  own 
weight)  ;  but  the  civil  wars  which  may  be  expected,  I 
think  (judging  from  certain  fashions  which  have  come 
in  of  late),  to  spread  through  many  countries — together 
with  the  malignity  of  sects,  and  those  compendious  arti- 
fices and  devices  which  have  crept  into  the  place  of  solid 
erudition  —  seem  to  portend  for  literature  and  the  sci- 
ences a  tempest  not  less  fatal,  and  one  against  which  the 
printing-office  will  be  no  effectual  security.  And  no 
doubt  but  that  fair-weather  learning  which  is  nursed  by 
leisure,  blossoms  under  reward  and  praise,  which  cannot 
withstand  the  shock  of  opinion,  and  is  liable  to  be  abused 
by  tricks  and  quackery,  will  sink  under  such  impedi- 
ments as  these.  Far  otherwise  is  it  with  that  knowledge 
whose  dignity  is  maintained  by  works  of  utility  and 
power.  For  the  injuries  therefore  which  should  proceed 
from  the  times,  I  am  not  afraid  of  them ;  and  for  the  in- 
juries which  proceed  from  men  I  am  not  concerned.  For 
if  any  one  charge  me  with  seeking  to  be  wise  overmuch, 
I  answer  simply  that  modesty  and  civil  respect  are  fit  for 
civil  matters;  in  contemplations  nothing  is  to  be  re- 
spected but  Truth.  If  any  one  call  on  me  for  tvorks,  and 
that  presently,  I  tell  him  frankly,  without  any  imi)os- 
ture  at  all,  that  for  me,  —  a  man  not  old,  of  weak  health, 
mv  hands  full  of  civil  business,  entering  without  guide  or 


424    PREFACE  FOR  DE  INTERPRETATIONE  NATURE.   [Book  IU. 

light  upon  an  argument  of  all  otliei-s  the  most  obscure, 
—  I  hold  it  enough  to  have  constructed  the  machine, 
though  I  may  not  succeed  in  setting  it  on  work.  Nay, 
with  the  same  candor  I  profess  and  declare  that  the  In- 
terpretation of  Nature,  rightly  conducted,  ought  in  the 
first  steps  of  the  ascent,  until  a  certain  stage  of  generals 
be  reached,  to  be  kept  clear  of  all  application  to  works. 
And  this  has  in  fact  been  the  error  of  all  those  who  have 
heretofore  ventured  themselves  at  all  upon  the  waves  of 
experience,  —  that  being  either  too  weak  of  purpose  or 
too  eager  for  display,  they  have  all  at  the  outset  sought 
prematurely  for  works,  as  proofs  and  pledges  of  their 
progress,  and  upon  that  rock  have  been  wrecked  and  cast 
away.  If  again  any  one  ask  me,  not  indeed  for  actual 
works,  yet  for  definite  promises  and  forecasts  of  the  works 
that  are  to  be,  I  would  have  him  know  that  the  knowl- 
edge which  we  now  possess  will  not  teach  a  man  even 
what  to  ivinh.  Lastly  —  though  this  is  a  matter  of  less 
moment  —  if  any  of  our  politicians,  who  use  to  make 
their  calculations  and  conjectures  according  to  pei-sons 
and  precedents,  must  needs  interpose  his  judgment  in 
a  thing  of  this  nature,  I  would  but  remind  him  how 
(according  to  the  ancient  fable)  the  lame  man  keeping 
the  course  won  the  race  of  the  swift  man  who  left  it; 
and  that  there  is  no  tliought  to  be  taken  about  prece- 
dents, for  the  thing  is  without  precedent. 

Now  for  my  ])lan  of  i)ul)]ication  :  those  jjarts  of  the 
work  which  have  it  for  their  object  to  lind  out  and  bring 
into  ('orrcspondeiu;e  such  minds  as  are  pi'cpared  and  dis- 
posed for  the  aignuicnt,  and  to  purge  the  floors  of  men's 
undcistandings,  J  wish  to  he  published  to  the  world  and 
circulate  from  mouth  to  mouth  ;  the  rest  I  would  have 
passed  frnui  hand  to  hand,  with  selection  and  judgnu'nt. 
Not  but  I  know  that  it  is  an  old  trick  of  imj)ostors  to 
keep  a  ft^w  f)f  their  follies  l)ack  from  the  ])ul)lic,  Avhich  are 
indeed    no  better   than    those    Ihev  juit    forward;   l)ut   in 


1601-IG03.]   PREFACE  FOR  DE  IXTERPRETATIONE  NATURE.    425 

this  case  it  is  no  imposture  at  nil,  but  a  sober  foresight, 
which  tells  me  that  the  formula  itself  of  interpretation, 
and  the  discoveries  made  by  the  same,  will  thrive  better 
if  committed  to  the  charge  of  some  fit  and  selected  minds, 
and  kept  private.  This,  however,  is  other  people's  con- 
cern. For  myself,  my  heart  is  not  set  upon  any  of  those 
things  which  depend  upon  external  accidents.  I  am  not 
hunting  for  fame ;  I  have  no  desire  to  found  a  sect, 
after  the  fashion  of  heresiarchs  ;  and  to  look  for  any  pri- 
vate gain  from  such  an  undertaking  as  this,  I  count  both 
ridiculous  and  base.  Enough  for  me  the  consciousness 
of  well-deserving,  and  those  real  and  effectual  results 
with  which  Fortune  itself  cannot  interfere. 

Such  then  was  the  project  with  which  Bacon  was  all 
this  time  laboring  in  secret ;  such,  and  no  less,  the  issues 
which  he  believed  to  be  involved  in  it.  But  though  his 
faith  in  the  principle  never  failed,  he  knew  that  it  could 
not  be  fairly  tried  without  the  cooperation  of  many  men 
and  of  more  than  one  generation  ;  and  when  he  came  to 
sound  men's  opinions  in  the  matter,  he  discovered  that  he 
had  a  preliminary  difficulty  to  encounter  in  finding  any 
who  would  listen  to  him.^ 

Now  if  he  could  get  the  King  to  take  an  interest  in  it 
a  great  part  of  this  difficulty  would  be  removed  ;  and  to 
bring  this  about,  the  best  chance  would  be  to  produce 
some  practical  and  notable  proof  of  proficiency  in  mat- 
ters of  Avhich  the  King  was  already  qualified  to  judge. 
For  experimental  philosophy  James  had  not  as  yet  shown 
any  taste ;  and  having  been  trained  in  the  ancient  learn- 
ing, he  was  not  likely  to  be  attracted  by  a  proposal  to  set 
aside  all  received  doctrines  and  begin  afresh  from  the  be- 
ginning ;  but  a  general  survey  and  criticism  of  the  exist- 

1  "  Et  quos  socios  habes?  Ego  certe  (inquam)  profecto  niillos  ;  quin  nee 
quenquam  liabeo  quocum  familiariter  de  hiijusniodi  rebus  colloqui  possini,  ut 
me  saltern  explicem  et  exacuam."'  — Philoscphical  Works,  vol.  iii.,  p.  559. 


426    PREFACE  FOR  DE  INTERPRETATIONE  NATURE.   [Book  III. 

ing  stock  of  knowledge  was  a  work  which  few  men  then 
livnig  were  better  qualified  to  appreciate,  and  in  which 
he  was  almost  sure  to  take  a  lively  interest ;  and  such 
a  survey  being  the  natural  and  legitimate  foundation  of 
an}'  attempt  at  a  large  and  general  reform,  it  seems  to 
have  occurred  to  Bacon  that  this  was  the  thing  to  begin 
with,  and  this  the  very  time  for  it.  Here  was  a  King, 
still  in  the  prime  of  life,  devoted  to  peace,  sympathizing 
largely  with  the  interests  of  mankind,  eminent  even 
among  learned  men  in  a  learned  age  for  proficiency  in  all 
kinds  of  learning,  coming  out  of  straits  and  troubles  into 
a  great  fortune,  his  imagination  raised,  his  habits  un- 
fixed, his  direction  not  yet  taken  ;  why  should  he  not  be 
excited  to  seek  his  greatness  in  a  work  like  this  ?  Ac- 
cordingly, when  Bacon  told  Cecil,  on  the  3d  of  July, 
1603,  that  he  should  put  his  ambition  only  upon  his  pen, 
it  seems  to  me  probabK;  that  he  had  newly  conceived  the 
design  of  writing  his  work  on  the  "Broficience  and  Ad- 
vancement of  Learning."  I  say  newly,  for  it  was  cer- 
tainly not  the  same  work  on  which  he  had  been  engaged 
before,  nor  any  part  of  it ;  nor  was  it  till  some  years  after 
that  he  determined  to  include  it  in  the  general  design. 
If  so,  the  first  book  —  which  may  be  described  as  a  kind 
of  inaugural  lecture  on  the  dignity  and  merit  of  learning 
as  a  work  for  the  kings  and  potentates  of  the  earth  — 
must  aj)parently  have  been  written  during  this  year;^ 
and  we  necul  seek  no  further  for  an  account  of  the  way 
in  which  his  time  during  the;  remainder  of  it  was  chiefly 
sp(;nt. 

It  was  not,  however,  his  only  occupation.  Though  he 
had  little  or  nothing  to  do  this  year  as  a  member  of  the 
King's  Li'arn(!d  Counsel,  there  were  one  or  two  subjects 
of  such  })reHsing  iin|)oil;in((!  in  the  political  department, 
that  he  made  buid  to  olVcr  his  opinion    upon  tliem. 

'  Sc«!  my  prffiicf  lo  Hit!  Ailviinccnuiit  <>/  Leitrnin«-  lUinm's  Works,  vol.  i., 
Purl  HI.,  p.  80. 


1601-1G03.]        UNION  OF  ENGLAND  AND  SCOTLAND.  427 

The  first  that  had  to  be  dealt  with  was  the  union  of 
England  and  Scotland.  We  have  seen  that  he  had  come 
away  from  his  first  interview  with  the  King  with  an  im- 
pression that  he  was  "hastening  to  a  mixture  of  both 
kingdoms  and  nations,  faster  perhaps  than  policy  would 
conveniently  bear."  Now  as  much  haste  as  was  compat- 
ible with  good  speed,  no  man  could  wish  for  more  than 
Bacon  himself ;  for  no  man  saw  sooner  or  more  clearly 
that  England,  well  united  with  Scotland,  had  all  natural 
requirements  for  becoming  the  greatest  monarchy  in  the 
world.  But  he  knew  that  things  would  not  unite  by 
being  merely  put  together,  and  that  perfect  mixture  re- 
quired many  conditions,  of  which  time  was  one  of  the 
most  indispensable.  And  I  suppose  it  was  in  the  hope, 
not  merely  of  drawing  a  little  attention  to  his  own  pre- 
tensions as  a  scholar  and  a  thinker  (though  that  was 
something),  but  also  of  tempering  the  King's  impatience 
and  reconciling  him  to  the  cautious  pace  at  which  it 
would  be  necessary  to  go,  that  he  took  leave  to  present 
him  with  a  short  philosophical  treatise  concerning  the 
conditions  under  which  perfect  union  takes  place  in 
nature,  —  an  essay  still  interesting,  both  as  a  specimen 
of  the  Pliilosophia  Prhna,  applied  to  a  particular  busi- 
ness in  the  details  and  practical  management  of  which 
he  was  soon  to  be  deeply  engaged,  and  as  showing  that 
it  was  not  as  a  member  of  the  Learned  Counsel,  but  as  a 
scholar,  a  student,  and  a  man  of  contemplation,  that  he 
chose  to  make  his  first  approaches :  a  fact  agreeing  very 
well  with  my  supposition  that  he  regarded  this  as  (for 
the  present  at  least)  his  proper  vocation  and  most  prom- 
ising career.  And  yet  his  aim  is  not  the  less  practical, 
and  bearing  on  the  immediate  business ;  for  the  conclu- 
sion is  that  Nature  and  Time  must  be  left  to  do  the  work, 
and  that  artificial  forcing  will  only  spoil  the  operation  ; 
the  very  warning  wliich  the  King  stood  most  in  need  of. 

With  regard  to  the  policy  to  be  pursued  in   Ireland, 


428  DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  PARTIES  IN  THE  CHURCH.  [Book  III. 

which  was  perhaps  the  next  question  in  immediate  ur- 
gency, —  so  impossible  it  was  to  stand  still  and  yet  so 
much  depended  upon  the  step  taken,  —  Bacon  had  com- 
municated his  thoughts  not  loug  before  to  Cecil;  and  as 
Montjoy  was  now  in  England  and  a  Councillor,  he  had 
no  pretense  for  interposing  further  in  the  matter  at  this 
time. 

But  there  was  another  question,  if  not  so  immediately 
urgent,  yet  of  a  far  more  vital  character,  which  forced 
itself  upon  Jauies's  attention,  and  upon  the  answer  to 
which  hung  consequences  beyond  all  estimate  or  predic- 
tion ;  a  question  turning  indeed  upon  arguments  which 
lay  within  his  own  province  and  which  he  was  well  qual- 
ified to  handle,  but  involving  issues  which  it  was  hardl}i 
possible  for  him  to  appreciate.  Tliis  was  the  dispute 
between  the  High  Churchmen  and  the  Puritans ;  which 
Elizabeth  had  bequeathed  to  him  still  unsettled,  but  yet 
(for  a  new  King  coming  to  it  unembarrassed  by  personal 
antecedents,  able  to  understand  the  fact,  and  willinsi  to 
accept  and  make  the  best  of  it)  in  a  condition  apparently 
very  favorable  for  settlem(Mit. 

Elizabetii  had  made  up  her  mind  at  the  beginning  of 
her  reign  how  much  innovation  she  would  allow  :  Prot- 
estantism was  to  go  80  far,  and  no  farther.  Nor  had  she 
miscalculated  her  own  position.  To  the  last,  when  a 
wave  threatened  to  encroach,  she  could  rebuke  it  and  it 
would  go  back.  But  the  tide  was  coming  in,  neverthe- 
h'SH ;  and  had  she  reigned  a  few  years  longer,  and  in 
Hfcurity  from  foreign  enemies,  she  would  have  had  to 
choose  between  making  terms  with  the  non-conformists 
and  HulTcring  from  tlui  want  of  subsidies.  How  she 
wouhi  have;  dealt  with  tluMii,  it  is  of  course  vain  to  con- 
jecture. But  I  suppose;  her  principal  dilliculty  would 
have  lain  in  iuu'  own  mind  and  declared  resolution.  .Sjie 
would  liave  had  to  retract  a  jiolicy  to  which  she  stood 
|tiil>licly   conmiitted  ;  uml    though    I    dar(!    say   slici   wouKl 


1G01-1G03.]  DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  rVKTIES  IX  THE  CHURCH.  429 

have  known  how  to  do  it  and  would  have  got  it  done,  the 
difficulty  would  have  been  considerable.  To  James  the 
thing  was  comparatively  easy.  He  was  not  as  yet  per- 
sonally committed  to  either  side  in  the  controversy.  He 
was  not  naturall}'  disposed  to  sectarianism,  in  matters  of 
opinion  and  doctrine,  on  any  side.  His  tolerance  towards 
Popery  had  no  superstition  in  it ;  it  arose  not  from  an 
inclination  to  agree,  but  from  a  liberal  admission  of  the 
riglit  to  differ.  His  objection  to  the  Puritans  was  rather 
political  than  theological,  and  was  in  fact  a  legitimate 
counterpart  of  his  objection  to  Popery ;  he  took  them  foi 
a  party  which  aimed  to  make  the  Church  supreme  over 
the  King,  and  themselves  supreme  in  the  Church.  But 
apart  from  the  political  tendency  of  their  opinions,  I  do 
not  find  that  he  had  any  horror  of  the  particular  opinions 
which  they  held  :  for  he  was  naturally  a  Protestant,  aware 
that  Truth  had  many  aspects,  and  willing  to  have  all 
questions  referred  to  reason  and  argument.  There  was 
nothing,  therefore,  to  prevent  him  from  taking  the  course 
which  seemed  most  politic  and  prudent.  His  difficulty  was 
to  know  what  was  the  prudent  course  ;  for  that  depended 
upon  the  tendencies  of  popular  opinion  and  the  relative 
strength  of  parties ;  of  which  he  had  not  yet  the  means 
of  judging  personally,  and  his  advisers  would  no  doubt 
tell  him  verj'^  different  stories. 

This  was  a  question  upon  which  Bacon,  having  been 
an  active  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  for  nearly 
twenty  years,  had  had  good  opportunities  of  forming  a 
judgment.  He  had  been  (as  we  saw)  by  no  means  satis- 
fied with  the  course  formerly  taken  by  the  authorities  in 
the  matter ;  and  being  well  aware  of  the  weight  of  it, 
could  not  but  be  anxious  that  the  chance  should  not  be 
missed  of  taking  up  the  right  position  now,  when  every- 
thing lay  so  fair  and  open  for  it;  for  as  in  differences 
between  neighbors  the  question  whetlier  two  families 
shall  be  friends  or  enemies  for  years  to  come  will  often 


430  DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  PARTIES  IN  THE  CHURCH.  [Buok  HI. 

depend  upon  tlic  teinper  of  the  first  answer,  so  in  the 
larger  theatres  of  the  world  the  manner  of  entertaining 
the  first  motion  for  reform  may  decide  whether  there 
shall  be  peace  or  war  half  a  century  after. 

The  right  position  no  doubt  was  to  treat  the  reformed 
Church  as  a  living  and  therefore  a  growing  body,  subject 
to  the  condition  of  all  growth,  wliich  is  change ;  to  dis- 
pose it  to  take  in  and  digest  into  its  own  system  as  much 
as  possible  of  all  that  was  good  in  all  that  was  new ;  not 
to  attempt  to  fix  it  in  the  shape  which  appeared  to  the 
wisest  men  then  living  to  be  the  most  perfect,  but  to 
leave  it  open  to  receive  new  impressions  from  the  wis- 
dom of  other  men  and  other  times ;  and  therefore  to  ad- 
mit as  disputable  within  its  precincts  all  questions  which 
were  among  well  instructed  and  earnest  men  really  mat- 
ter of  dispute ;  allowing  as  much  liberty  to  each  as  was 
compatible  with  the  liberty  of  all,  and  trusting  to  the 
natural  authority  of  reason  in  a  fair  field  to  make  good 
the  truth  against  all  assailants.  In  any  subject  except 
theology  this  would  undoubtedly  be  allowed  as  the  oidy 
rational  way  of  proceeding.  If  a  commission  were  ap- 
pointed to  frame  rules  for  a  school  of  natural  science  or 
])rofane  liistory,  no  one  would  tliinlc  of  prohibiting  tlu; 
promulgation  of  theories  inconsistent  with  those  at  pres- 
ent accepted  and  iipproved  ;  or  if  any  such  thing  were 
done,  the;  result  might  easily  be  foretold.  The  new 
schools  which  would  not  the  less  inevitably  arise  would 
come  as  (;nenii(^s  and  antagonists  of  tlu»  old,  and  they 
would  spend  their  time  in  quarrelling  instead  of  inquir- 
ing. Now  when  till'  Scriptures  wen^  once  accepted  (as 
by  all  variiities  of  Protestantism  tliey  then  were)  for  the 
KU]»r(!in<!  anthoritv  in  mutters  of  religion,  the  interpreta- 
tion and  a|i]»lic;i,t  ion  of  tlicni  liecanic!  a  woi'k  of  liunian 
science,  subjc'ct  to  lik(!  conditions.  To  be  i)ursued  suc- 
cessfully it  must  b(^  pursued  freely.  It  is  trui;  that  this 
was  not  a  view  wITk-Ii  could  tluMi   \h\  taken  by  any  part}' 


16U1-1G0.3.]  DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  PARTIES  IN  THE  CHURCH.  431 

in  the  Church  or  out  of  it.  They  all  believed  in  ortho- 
doxy, and  each  held  it  for  a  first  duty  to  establish  its  own 
creed  and  exclude  every  other  —  if  possible,  forever.  Not 
the  less,  however,  was  it  the  wisdom  of  the  Protestant 
Church  to  make  room  for  as  many  varieties  of  honest 
opinion  as  were  not  incompatible  with  each  other ;  and  it 
seems  probable  that  the  manifestation  even  of  a  tend- 
ency in  that  direction  would  have  sufficed  to  draw  to- 
wards it  all  that  was  most  learned,  weighty,  and  influential 
in  the  religious  opinions  of  the  time.  For  though  the 
change  of  masters,  joined  with  the  general  uncertainty 
as  to  the  policy  which  would  find  favor  with  the  new 
King,  had  awakened  all  hopes  and  set  all  discontents 
free  to  express  themselves,  and  James  was  greeted  at 
his  entrance  with  many  petitions  for  reformation  in  the 
orders  of  the  Church,  it  is  impossible  to  look  through  the 
list  of  particular  alterations  proposed  without  feeling 
that  most  of  the  points  in  question  might  have  been  left 
open  without  either  danger  or  disturbance  to  the  estab- 
lishment. Where  authority  does  not  interfere,  general 
opinion  keeps  order  ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
the  great  majority  of  churchmen,  if  left  to  themselves, 
would  have  followed  the  fashion,  and  so  established  as 
much  uniformity  in  practice  as  was  desirable. 

The  danger  was  in  giving  it  to  be  understood  that 
//y^/im^  would  be  conceded;  for  opposition  to  a  govern- 
ment which  threatens  dissatisfaction  to  all  alike  is  the  one 
thing  in  which  all  varieties  of  dissatisfaction  can  agree. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  indication  of  a  willingness  on 
the  part  of  the  Church  to  tolerate  differences  —  to  allow 
more  liberty  for  clergymen  to  think  freely  and  to  say 
freely  what  they  thought  —  would  to  a  certain  extent  have 
satisfied  them  all,  and  united  them  in  a  common  support 
of  the  government.  And  this  course,  which  a  wise  states- 
inanshijj  would  surely  have  prescribed,  appeared  to  Ba- 
co)\  to  be  prescribed  by  reason  and  religion  as  well.    "  A 


432  DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  PARTIES  IN  THE  CHURCH.  [Boon  III. 

man  tli;it  is  of  judgment  and  understanding  shall  some- 
times hear  ignorant  men  differ,  and  know  well  within 
himself  that  those  which  so  differ  mean  one  thing,  and 
yet  themselves  would  never  agree.  And  if  it  come  so 
to  pass  in  that  distance  of  judgment  which  is  between 
man  and  man,  shall  we  not  think  that  God  above,  that 
knows  the  heart,  doth  not  discern  that  frail  men  in  some 
of  their  contradictions  intend  the  same  thing,  and  ac- 
cepteth  of  both  ?  "  ^  To  "  accept  of  both,"  therefore,  was 
the  course  which  he  would  have  recommended  to  the 
Church  in  cases  where  religious  men,  intending  accept- 
able service,  brought  different  gifts  ;  and  now  was  the 
time  when  such  a  course  might  be  most  happily  inau- 
gurated. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  (having  received 
some  gracious  acknowledgment  of  his  discourse  touching 
the  Union  of  the  Kingdoms)  he  made  bold  to  present  the 
King,  in  a  pajier  entitled  "•  Certain  Considerations  touch- 
ing the  better  Pacification  and  Edification  of  the  Church 
of  England,"  with  his  opinion  as  to  the  best  method  of 
reconciling  the  prevailing  dissensions. 

This  paper  —  a  worthy  sequel  to  the  "Advertisement 
touching  Church  Controversies"  written  in  1589  —  was 
presented  to  the  King  "at  his  first  coming  in  ;  "  and  was 
not  (I  presume)  meant  to  be  published  at  that  time. 
There  exists,  however,  a  printed  copy  with  the  date  1604 
—  the  same,  probably,  which  Dr.  Rawley  mentions  in  his 
commonplace  book  as  having  been  "called  in."  In  1641, 
wlieu  there  w:is  a  great  demand  for  all  Bacon's  political 
tracts,  it  was  reprinted.  And  it  was  afterwards  included 
in  the  "  Ilcsuscitatio." 

What  th(!  King  thought  of  liacon's  suggestions  we  are 
not  directly  informed,  but,  judging  from  his  subst^quent 
proceedings,  I  gather  that  lu;  generally  approved,  and 
was  for  his  own  part  disposed  to  act  in  the  spirit  of  them. 

•    /'/w/y  *'/'  I  nit II  ill  llidiijion. 


1601-1603.]  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON   COURT.  433 

He  began  by  treating  the  questions  at  issue  as  matters 
deserving  grave  consideration  ;  showed  himself  ready  to 
allow  any  alterations  which  could  be  proved  to  be  req- 
uisite and  fit ;  and  with  that  view  invited  the  leaders  of 
the  party  which  desired  alteration  to  appear  and  state 
their  case  for  themselves.  If  he  had  stopped  there,  play- 
ing the  part  of  listener  only,  and  reserving  the  expression 
of  his  own  opinion  for  after-consideration,  I  su^jpose  he 
could  not  have  done  better.  His  error — a  characteristic 
error,  and  springing  out  of  what  was  best  in  him,  con- 
sidered as  a  man  —  was  in  allowing  himself  to  be  drawn 
personally  into  disputation.  Even  if  the  case  of  his 
opponents  had  been  one  which  admitted  of  a  refutation 
conclusive  and  unanswerable  in  itself,  it  would  have  been 
better  not  to  urge  it.  The  old  proverb  tells  us  to  "  let 
losers  have  their  words,"  and  upon  the  same  principle  the 
authority  which  can  overrule  in  action  should  not  be  too 
solicitous  to  defeat  in  argument.  But  in  this  case  tliere 
was  no  hope  of  convincing  the  opponents  that  they  were 
wrong,  and  the  attempt  was  sure  to  invite  opposition  and 
aggravate  disappointment.  And  yet  to  let  an  answerable 
argument  pass  unanswered  was  a  piece  of  forbearance  to 
which  the  scholar-King  was  not  equal ;  and  in  comparing 
the  second  day  of  the  Hampton  Court  conference  with 
the  first,  the  consequences  are  traceable  very  distinctly. 
On  the  first  day,  when  he  was  taking  order  with  his 
councillors  what  changes  should  be  made,  and  had  only 
his  own  Bishops  to  dispute  with,  he  seems  to  have  gone 
altogether  in  the  direction  which  Bacon  advised,  and  to 
have  been  disposed  to  go  a  good  way.  Before  he  had  got 
through  the  second,  when  he  was  engaged  in  argument 
with  the  dissentient  doctors,  he  had  committed  himself 
to  a  position  which  Bacon  would  certainly  not  have  ap- 
proved. "  This  (said  he,  in  answer  to  a  question  how 
far  the  Church  had  authority  to  prescribe  ceremonies)  is 
like  Mr.  John  Black,  a  beardless  boy,  who  told  me,  the 

vol..  I  28 


434  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON   COURT.  [Book  III. 

last  conference  in  Scotland,  that  be  should  hold  con- 
formity with  his  Majesty  in  matters  of  doctrine  ;  but 
every  man,  for  ceremonies,  was  to  be  left  to  his  own 
liberty.  But  I  will  have  none  of  that ;  I  will  have  one 
doctrine,  one  .discipline,  one  religion,  in  substance  and 
ceremony.  Never  speak  more  on  that  point  —  how  far 
you  are  bound  to  obey."  ^  Now  ceremonies,  in  them- 
selves indifferent,  were  precisely  what  the  dissentient 
party  most  strained  at ;  and  such  declarations  as  this, 
though  intended  to  procure  quiet,  did  in  fact  warn  them 
that  they  must  either  abandon  what  they  took  for  points 
of  conscience  or  seek  for  relief  elsewhere,  and  thereby 
undid  the  tranquillizing  effect  of  the  concessions  which 
the  King  was  willing  to  make,  and  which  were  not  incon- 
siderable. This  was  the  last  occasion  on  which  Bacon 
went  out  of  his  way  to  interpose  in  the  quarrel  ;  being 
ever  after  iiguinst  all  attempts  to  unsettle  these  ques- 
tions, when  tliey  had  once  been  by  the  legitimate  au- 
thority "  detcnuincd  ;ind  ordered." 

llow  little  disposition  there  was  to  employ  Bacon  in 
the  business  of  the  Learned  Counsel  at  this  time  is  wi'll 
seen  in  the  fact  tliat  his  name  does  not  anywhere  appear 
in  connection  with  that  singular  conspiracy,  or  series  of 
conspiracies,  which  ruffled  the  otherwise  univ(n-sal  quiet  of 
James's  entrance  into  England  ;  a  conspii-acy  in  which  so 
many  rej)resentatives  of  different  parties,  —  the  Catholic 
priest  at  open  war  with  the  Jesuits,  the  ordinary  Catholic 
counti'y  gentleman,  the  high-i-ouraged  Puritan  noblcMuan, 
the  ambit ious(lisa[)p()inted  courtier,  and  (strangest  of  all) 
the  soldicr-sailor-statesman  distinguished  in  peace  and  war 
for  invi;terate(!nmity  to  Spain,  —  having  no  common  object 
to  aim  at,  no  pretense  to  |)ut  forward,  no  injuries  to  re- 
sent, no  lulhcnrnts  t(j  rely  upon,  l)ul  drawn,  it  seems,  only 
by  a  coniinon   hope  of  pi-ojiting  in  Ihcir  s(!veral  ways  by 

1   Fuller. 


1601-1603.]  RALEGH'S  TRIAL  AND  DEFENSE.  435 

the  chances  of  confusion,  met  together  in  an  insane  proj- 
ect for  overpowering  the  government.  As  Bacon  took 
no  part  in  either  the  investigation  or  the  trials,  as  he  has 
not  left  on  record  so  much  as  an  opinion  upon  an}'  of  the 
questions  at  issue,  and  as  the  current  of  affairs  was  not 
materially  affected  either  by  the  attempt  or  by  the  pro- 
ceedings which  followed,  I  am  happily  relieved  from  the 
duty  of  attempting  to  make  the  history  of  it  intelligible. 
It  is  enough  to  say  here  that  the  main  plot  —  commonly 
called  the  "  Priests'  plot,  "  but  in  which  Lord  Grey  the 
Puritan  was  an  accomplice  —  came  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  government  about  midsummer,  and  fell  to  pieces  at 
once  ;  that  before  Christmas  the  several  persons  impli- 
cated had  been  tried  and  found  guilty ;  that  the  Priests, 
against  whom  the  case  was  strongest  and  clearest,  were 
hanged,  and  the  rest,  with  general  consent  and  applause, 
respited  ;  and  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  manner  in 
which  the  trial  of  Ralegh  was  conducted,  —  for  which  I 
think  Sir  Edward  Coke  must  be  held  singly  responsible, 
—  the  whole  thing  would  have  ended  there,  and  produced 
no  further  effect,  direct  or  indii-ect.  The  trial  of  Ralegh, 
however,  had  one  very  extraordinary  result  at  the  time, 
and  became  by  a  strange  accident  the  cause  of  a  serious 
embarrassment  long  after,  with  which  we  shall  be  more 
particularly  concerned  ;  it  in  ay  be  well  therefore  to  add 
a  few  words  as  to  the  position  in  which  he  was  left. 

Ralegh  had  passed  his  fiftieth  year  ;  had  been  a  brill- 
iant and  conspicuous  figure  in  various  fields  of  enter- 
prise from  his  youth  ;  had  never  been  conspicuously  en- 
gaged in  actions  hostile  or  offensive  to  the  people ;  had 
already  performed  all  the  deeds  (his  great  literary  work 
excepted)  on  which  his  fame  rests  ;  and  yet  he  had  never 
been  popular  ;  but  the  contrary.  And  since  his  popularity 
dates  from  the  day  on  which  he  was  put  upon  his  trial 
and  made  his  own  defense,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  ihat 
the  cause  in   which  he  spoke  and  suffered  was  not   mily 


436  RALEGH'S   TRIAL   AND   DEFENSE.  [Book  IIL 

good  in  law  but  gracious  with  the  people.  This,  however, 
WHS  by  no  means  the  case.  He  went  to  his  trial  a  man 
so  unpopular  that  lie  Avas  hooted  and  pelted  on  the  road  ; 
he  came  out  an  object  of  general  pity  and  admiration, 
and  has  held  his  place  ever  siuce  as  one  of  England's 
favorite  and  representative  heroes  ;  and  yet,  if  we  except 
his  gallant  bearing  and  splendid  abilities  (which  were 
no  new  revelations),  there  was  nothing  in  his  case  which 
could  have  tended  either  to  excite  popular  sj^mpathy  or  to 
command  popular  respect ;  nor  has  anything  been  discov- 
ered since  that  enables  us  to  explain  his  connection  with 
the  plot  in  a  way  at  all  favorable  to  his  character.  By 
his  own  showing  he  had  been  in  intimate  and  confidential 
relations  with  a  man  whom  nobody  liked  or  respected, 
and  who  was  secretly  seeking  help  from  the  hated  Spaniard 
in  a  plot  to  dispossess  James  in  favor  of  the  Lady  Ara- 
bella. By  his  own  admission  he  had  at  least  listened  to 
an  offm'  of  a  large  sum  of  money,  —  certainly  Spanish, 
and  therefore  presumabl}^  in  consideration  of  some  serv- 
ice to  be  rendered  to  S})ain.  And  though  it  is  true  that 
we  do  not  know  with  what  })ui-pos('S  he  listened,  how 
much  he  knew,  how  far  he  ac(piiesced,  or  what  he  in- 
tended to  do,  it  is  im[)ossible  to  believe  that  his  intentions 
(  whether  treasonable  or  not)  were,  or  were  then  suj)- 
posed  to  be,  either  popular  or  patriotic.  lie  did  not  him- 
self attempt  to  put  any  such  color  upon  his  proceedings; 
declaring  only  that  he  did  not  know  of  the  plot  in  which 
his  conlidcntial  fi-iends  were  eng;igcd.  Ilis  blindest  ad- 
vocates have  not  succeeded  in  doing  it  for  him.  And 
tiiose  who,  though  partial,  have  taken  pains  to  examine 
and  felt  bound  to  res])ect  the  evidence,  have  scarcely  suc- 
ceeded evt-n  in  believing  him  innocent.  Among  the  stu- 
dents of  his  life  in  recent  times  there  has  been  none  more 
truly  desirous  to  lind  hcioi(!  viiiue  in  all  his  aims  and 
.ictions  than  Mr.  Ma«;vey  Napier  ;  yet  in  endeavoring  to 
i-xplain  liis  conn'*ction  uilh  Lonl   ( 'ol)li;ini,  as  disclosed  in 


1601-1603.]  RALEGH'S   TRIAL  AND  DEFENSE.  437 

the  course  of  this  tii;il,  he  is  driven  to  suspect  him  of  a 
design  so  far  from  heroic  in  itself  that  it  is  hard  to  under- 
stand how  it  could  find  place  in  a  mind  in  which  the 
heroic  element  predominated. 

"  Old  Major  Stansby  of  ...  .  Hants,"  says  Aubrey, 
"a  most  intimate  friend  and  neighbor  and  coetanean  of 
the  late  Earl  of  Soutliampton  (Ld.  Treas.),  told  me  from 
his  friend  the  Earl,  that  as  to  the  plot  and  business  about 
the  Ld.  Cobham,  etc.,  he  [Ralegh],  being  then  governor 
of  Jersey,  would  not  fully  or  etc.  [sic] ,  unless  they  would 
go  to  his  island  ;  and  that  really  and  indeed  Sir  Walter's 
purpose  was,  when  he  had  gotten  them  there,  to  have 
betrayed  them  and  the  plot,  and  so  have  delivered  them 
up  to  the  King,  and  made  his  peace."  ^ 

To  this  report  Mr.  Napier  refers  us,^  after  an  elaborate 
discussion  of  the  evidence,  as  containing  the  explanation 
of  Ralegh's  connection  with  the  plot  which  he  seems  in- 
clined to  accept  as  upon  the  whole  most  probable.  And 
it  must  be  admitted  that  of  the  difficulties  which  his  case 
presents,  one  at  least  would  be  removed  by  it.  Had  his 
case  been  clear,  it  is  incredible  to  me  that,  with  such 
a  head,  such  a  heart,  and  such  a  tongue,  he  would  have 
left  it  so  ambiguous  that  a  worshipper  of  his  memory  is 
driven  to  a  conjecture  like  this.  But  if  the  conjecture 
be  tiue,  —  if  it  be  possible  to  suppose  that  he  had  been 
really  inviting  his  friend's  confidence  with  the  intention 
of  betraying  it,^ — that  difficulty  vanishes.  Upon  that 
supposition  we  may  say  that  he  purposely  left  the  case 
dark,  because  he  knew  it  would  not  bear  the  light ;  and 
if  so,  his  handling  of  it  so  as  to  produce  such  a  wonder- 
ful revolution  of  popular  opinion  in  his  own  favor  must 
surely  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  surprising  feats  of 
audacity  and  genius  that  the  wit  of  man  ever  achieved. 

1  Aubrey's  Lives,U].,  p. 516.  2  Edinburgh  Revitu;  April,  1840,  p.  6-3. 

3  Napier's  own  version  of  Aubrey's  story  is,  "  Uiat  Rale;;lrs  intention  really 
was  to  inveigle  Cobham  to  Jersey,  and  then,  having  got  both  him  and  his 
Spanish  treasure  in  his  power,  to  mai<e  terms  with  the  King." 


438  RALEGH'S  TRIAL  .VXD  DEFENSE.  [Book  IIL 

I  quote  this,  however,  not  as  an  explanation  satisfac- 
toi'v  to  myself,  but  only  as  evidence  that  the  case  was 
and  is  still  thought  to  require  explanation  ;  for  beyond 
this  the  report  is  of  little  or  no  value.  It  proves  only 
that  Ralegh's  famous  defense  left  people  to  wonder  and 
guess  how  far  and  in  what  way  he  was  really  implicated  ; 
and  that  this  was  one  of  the  guesses  in  circulation  half 
a  century  after. 

But  though  the  question  of  his  guilt  or  innocence  re- 
mains doubtful,  and  the  verdict  of  the  jury  (who  were 
better  acquainted  with  the  evidence  than  their  outside 
critics,  whose  judgment  was  formed  upon  very  imperfect 
reports,  for  no  ofl&cial  statement  was  published)  may  for 
anything  we  know  have  been  substantially  just,  the  con- 
duct of  the  trial  cannot  be  defended.  The  unfair  ad- 
vantages insisted  on  by  the  Attorney  General  on  behalf 
of  the  Crown,  and  allowed  by  the  Judges,  turned  by  a 
natural  reaction  to  the  great  disadvantage  of  the  Crown 
in  the  court  of  popular  opinion,  and  left  a  blot  in  the 
tables  which  imperilled  the  whole  game,  and  the  effect 
of  which  was  felt  long  afterwards,  —  as  we  shall  see  in 
due  time.  For  the  present,  Ralegh  remained  a  prisoner 
in  the  Tower  ;  respited,  not  pardontnl  ;  still  under  attain- 
der for  High  Treason,  and  therefore,  as  the  Law  phrased 
it,  "civilly  dead," — a  man  who,  being  alive  in  fact,  was 
still  capal)le  of  committing  new  crimes  and  offenses,  but, 
being  dead  in  law,  was  not  (•aj)able  of  being  "drawn  in 
question  judicially"  for  any  crinu^  or  offense  he  might 
aftiM'wards  commit,  —  a  man,  in  sliort,  to  whom  Justice 
was  thencffurward  forbidden  by  Law. 

In  all  this,  Bacon,  thougli  no  d(nil)t  an  earnest  and 
anxious  observer,  had  no  part  as  actor,  adviser,  or  reporter, 
lit'  came  in  for  a  share  in  the  subsequent  embarrassment, 
y>ut  was  no  way  concerned  in  preparing  the  materials 
out  f>f  which  it  grew. 

Neither  do  I  find  that  he  had   aiivthiu*;  to  ilo  with  the 


1601-1603.]  BACON'S  APOLOGY.  439 

negotiiitions  which  ended  not  long  after  in  the  treaty  of 
peace  with  Spain :  a  treaty  of  which  the  policy  was  and 
is  disputed,  but  the  consideration  does  not  concern  my 
subject. 

To  this  period,  however,  belongs  one  other  paper  ^  of 
great  importance,  to  which  I  have  already  had  frequently 
to  refer,  —  a  paper  very  interesting  to  me,  as  being  one 
of  those  by  which  I  was  first  attracted  long  ago  to  the 
study  of  Bacon's  personal  character  and  histoiy,  and 
which  grows  in  interest  as  the  case  is  better  understood. 
The  exact  date  of  the  composition  I  do  not  know  ;  fur- 
ther than  that  the  earliest  printed  cojDy  bears  1604  on  its 
title-page. 

If  the  popular  disapprobation  excited  at  the  time  by 
Bacon's  conduct  towards  the  Earl  of  Essex  was  as  great 
and  as  universal  as  it  is  usually  assumed  to  have  been  by 
modern  writers,  it  seems  strange  that  proofs  of  the  fact 
should  not  be  more  abundant.  I  believe,  however,  that 
the  only  contemporary  witness  who  can  be  cited  to  prove 
the  existence  of  any  disapprobation  at  all  is  Bacon  him- 
self ;  and  though  his  evidence  proves  conclusively  that 
disapprobation  had  been  expressed,  the  absence  or  silence 
of  other  witnesses  proves  almost  as  conclusively  that  it 
had  not  been  expressed  very  generally  or  very  loudly. 

Such  as  it  was,  it  had  grown  out  of  misinformation  as 
to  the  part  which  he  had  really  taken  in  the  matter.  For 
when  Essex  on  his  return  from  Ireland  was  committed  to 
custody,  those  of  his  friends  who,  not  knowing  the  cir- 
cumstances, could  not  otherwise  account  for  his  loss  of 
favor,  naturally  imputed  it  to  the  influence  of  some 
enemy  at  Court;  and  as  the  news  ran  that  "all  the 
Lords  were  in  this  matter  liis  friends,  for  all  spoke  for 
him,"  while  of  Bacon  it  was  only  known  that  he  was  at 

1  <S(V  Francis  Bacon  his  Apoloyie,  in  ceriaine  Imputations  concerning  the  kite 
Earle  of  Essex.  Written  to  the  Right  Honorable  his  very  good  Lord,  the  Earlt 
of  Devonshire,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland. 


440  BACON'S  APOLOGY.  [Book  III. 

tliat  time  frequently  admitted  to  speech  with  the  Queeu, 
their  suspicion  not  unnaturally  fell  upon  him;  and  a  sus- 
picion in  such  cases  soon  becomes  a  rumor.  Now  a  rumor 
of  this  kind  could  not  be  satisfactorily  met  without  the 
disclosure  of  confidential  conversations  in  which  others 
were  concerned.  It  was  allowed  accordingly  to  prevail, 
and  produced  its  natural  effect.  "  Pity  in  the  common 
people,  if  it  run  in  a  strong  stream,  doth  ever  cast  up 
scandal  and  envy  ;  "  ^  and  the  pity  which  ran  so  strougly 
in  favor  of  Essex  had  cast  up  scandal  and  envy  against 
Bacon.  From  the  duty  of  beaiing  it  in  silence  he  was 
now  by  the  death  of  the  Queen  partly  released ;  he  could 
now  judge  for  himself  what  and  how  much  he  was  at 
liberty  to  disclose  of  that  which  had  passed  between  them. 
Whether  any  particular  occasion  impelled  him  to  speak  at 
this  time,  —  any  revival  of  the  calumny  (such  as  James's 
supposed  partiality  for  Essex  and  his  open  favor  towards 
the  surviving  members  of  the  part}^  would  naturally  en- 
courage), or  some  expression  which  may  possiblj'^  have 
fallen  from  the  Earl  of  Southampton  upon  his  offer  of 
congratulation, —  or  whether  it  was  merelv  that  he  wished 
to  take  the  earliest  opportunity  of  clearing  himself  from 
a  painful  and  undeserved  imputation,  I  cannot  say; 
for  no  record  remains  to  show  what  was  said  of  him,  or 
when,  or  by  whom,  except  what  may  be  collected  fn)m 
the  terms  of  his  answer.  But  the  time  was  in  one  re- 
spect very  convenient.  For  Lord  Moiitjoy,  who  was 
cognizant  of  th»!  whoh^  case, — thost;  j)arts  of  it  which 
could  not  yet  be  nuuh;  puljlic;  as  well  as  the  rest,  —  was 
now  in  ICngland  and  in  high  reputation,  lunvly  created 
Earl  of  Devonshire  and  Lord  Liciitcnant  of  Ii'cland.  He 
liad  ixM'H  d«H'ply  involved  in  some  of  ICssex's  most  secret 
inti'igiH'H,  and  had  only  (rscajx'd  the  conse(|nences  through 
a  bolil  connivance  on  lh(r  (Queen's  jiail  ;  who  wanted  his. 
servic'C  and   felt  that  sIk;  cidild  trust  him,  and   made  him 

1   llUtonj  of  Ilrnnj  VII. :     Work*,  ii.,  Part  1.,  p.  303. 


1601-1603.]     APOLOGY  CONCERNING  THE  EARL  OF  ESSEX.      441 

understand  that  she  meant  to  be  ignorant  of  what  had 
passed.  Xo  man  could  be  less  suspected  of  an  inclination 
to  judge  Bacon's  conduct  too  favorably.  No  man  was  so 
little  likely  to  be  deceived  by  a  false  story ;  nor  was  any 
man,  on  the  other  hand,  so  well  qualified  to  understand 
the  full  meaning  of  the  true  story  in  those  parts  where 
the  meaning  could  not  yet  be  fully  explained.  To  him, 
therefore,  as  to  the  best  and  fairest  representative  of  the 
party  by  whom  he  was  censured  or  suspected,  Bacon  now 
addressed  a  letter  of  explanation  ;  of  which  the  object  is, 
not  to  justify  himself  for  neglecting  the  duties  which  in 
the  common  understanding  of  the  world  a  man  owes  to 
his  benefactor,  but  to  show  that  he  had  to  the  best  of 
his  judgment  and  ability  discharged  them,  up  to  the 
time  when  it  became  impossible  to  take  his  part  further 
Avithout  betraying  duties  still  more  sacred.  And  if  he 
does  not  enter  into  a  formal  vindication  of  the  part  he 
took  at  and  after  the  trial,  his  motive  may  be  easily  con- 
jectured. He  could  not  have  done  it  without  repeating 
the  story  of  Essex's  offense,  at  a  time  when  it  would 
have  served  no  higher  object  than  the  clearing  of  his 
own  reputation. 1 

This  letter  was  published  in  a  small  volume  very  con- 
venient for  circulation ;  and  as  another  impression  was 
issued  in  the  following  year,  we  may  infer  that  it  was 
circulated  widely.  It  would  have  been  very  interesting 
to  know  what  was  thought  and  said  of  it  then ;  but  I  can 
find  no  news  of  its  reception.  I  do  not  remember  to  have 
met  AA*ith  a  single  allusion  to  it  by  any  one  living  and 
forming  his  impressions  at  the  time;  a  fact  which  does 
not  countenance  the  notion  that  it  was  at  the  time  felt  to 
be  unsatisfactory  ;  for  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  defend 
himself  against  a  popular  outcry  is  pretty  sure  to  make 
the  man  more  unpopular  and  the  outcry  louder. 

1  Frequent  references  to  the  Apology  appear  in  the  course  of  the  narrative  of 
Essex's  adventures. 


442        APOLOGY   CONCERNING  THE  EARL  OF   ESSEX.  [Book  IIL 

Positive  evidence,  therefore,  as  to  its  effect  upon  those 
to  whom  it  was  addressed  I  cannot  produce.  But  the  neg- 
ative evidence  is  significant.  "It  is  not  probable,"  says 
Lord  Macauhiy,  "  that  Bacon's  defense  liad  much  effect 
upon  his  contemporaries.  But  the  unfavorable  impres- 
sion which  his  conduct  had  made  appears  to  have  been 
gradually  effaced."  From  this  I  infer  that  Lord  Macau- 
lay's  reading  furnished  no  expression  or  anecdote  which 
implied,  or  could  be  made  to  seem  to  imply,  that  the  un- 
favorable impression  continued  after  the  explanation  had 
been  heard.  And  as  this  is  exactly  what  would  have 
happened  on  the  supposition  that  his  defense  did  produce 
its  natural  effect  upon  his  contemporaries,  and  is  very 
hard  to  explain  upon  any  other  supposition  (seeing  that 
Bacon's  course  of  life,  as  a  rising  man  in  Court  favor,  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  in  his  profession,  exposed 
him  to  envy  and  free  criticism  in  a  world  which  was  in 
this  matter  prejudiced  against  him),  I  think  we  may 
fairly  leave  it  there. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A.   D.    1604.      ^TAT.   44. 

The  resolution  to  call  a  Parliament,  having  been  post- 
poned from  month  to  month  in  consequence  of  the  sick- 
ness then  prevailing  in  London,  was  at  length  announced 
by  Proclamation  on  the  11th  of  January,  1603-4.  The 
session  began  on  tlie  19th  of  March,  and  was  opened  by 
the  King  in  person  with  a  gracious  and  judicious  speech, 
explaining  his  views  on  peace,  on  the  union  of  the  king- 
doms, on  the  limits  of  toleration  in  religion,  and  on  the 
general  duties  of  government ;  in  all  which  there  seems 
to  be  nothing  to  find  fault  with  ;  and  if  he  had  not  called 
the  devil  "  a  busy  bishop,"  —  upon  which  one  of  the 
Bench  is  said  to  have  remarked  that  "  his  Majesty  might 
have  chosen  another  name,"  —  lam  not  aware  that  any 
exception  would  have  been  taken  to  it. 

But  a  clause  in  the  Proclamation,  introduced  it  seems 
by  the  Lord  Chancellor,  had  sown  the  seed  of  a  difficulty 
which  threatened  to  spoil  the  concert ;  and  of  which  the 
history  is  worth  telling  at  large,  not  only  for  the  part 
which  Bacon  took  in  it,  but  also  for  the  light  which  might 
have  been  taken  from  it  as  to  the  true  method  of  arrang- 
ing those  disputes  between  Privilege  and  Prerogative 
which  were  destined  to  be  the  trouble  of  the  times. 

The  Proclamation  had  notified  that  all  returns  and 
certificates  of  Knights,  Citizens,  and  Burgesses  were  to 
be  bi'ought  to  the  Chancery,  and  there  filed  of  record ; 
and  if  any  were  found  to  have  been  made  contrary  to  the 
Proclamation  "  the  same  was  to  be  rejected  as  unlawful 


444      PPilVILEGE  V.  PREROGATIVE:  SIR  F.  GOODWIN.     [Book  III. 

and  insufficient."  A  previous  clause  Imd  forbidden  the 
election  of  bankru])ts  or  outlaws.  Sir  Francis  Goodwin, 
who  was  returned  for  Buckingliamsliire,  was  objected  to 
as  having  been  outlawed ;  the  return  was  accordingly  re- 
fused by  the  Clerk  of  the  Crown;  and  a  new  writ  being 
issued  from  the  Chancery,  Sir  John  Fortescue,  a  Privy 
Councillor,  was  elected  instead.  This  was  before  the 
meeting  of  Parliament;  and  the  very  first  motion  made 
in  the  Lower  House  after  the  election  of  the  Speaker  was 
for  an  examination  of  the  return  and  the  admission  of  Sir 
F.  Goodwin  as  a  member.  The  motion  was  approved  ; 
the  Clerk  of  the  Crown  was  summoned  to  appear  the 
next  morning  with  the  writs,  returns,  indentures,  etc. ; 
and  Sir  Francis  Goodwin  was  ordered  to  attend  in  person 
and  explain  his  case  ;  a  select  committee  being  at  the 
same  time  appointed  (as  usual  at  the  beginning  of  a  ses- 
sion) to  examine  all  questions  touching  privileges  and 
returns.  Upon  a  lull  consideration  and  discussion  of  the 
case  (in  which  Bacon  ajipears  to  have  taken  a  prominent 
part ;  for  though  there  is  no  rej)ort  of  what  was  said,  his 
name  heads  the  list  of  members  named  as  speakers),  it 
was  resolved  that  Goodwin  was  not  an  outlaw,  and  had 
been  duly  elected ;  upon  which  the  Clerk  of  the  Crown 
was  ordered  to  file  the  first  return,  and  Goodwin  took  the 
oaths  and  his  seat. 

This  was  on  Friday,  March  23,  and  tiuis  the  House 
was  brought  into  collision  with  the  Court  of  Chancery 
upon  the  question  of  jurisdiction  —  to  which  of  them  it 
belonged  to  judge  of  the  validity  of  the  return  ;  a  point 
of  Privileg<?  important  in  the  highest  degree ;  for  if  the 
judgment  of  lln-  Court  of  Chancery  was  conclusive,  the 
Chancery  ('ould  control  tlu;  composition  of  the  House. 
On  the  following  'J'ucsdny  the  disi)ute  was  further  com- 
plicated by  a  message  brought  by  the  Attorney  General 
frotn  the  T^oi-ds,  desiring  a  confcirence  on  the  subject  ;  to 
which  the  Commons  replied  that  "it  did  not  stand  with 


1604.]         PRIVILEGE  v.  PREROGATIVE :  SIR  F.  GOODWIN.  445 

the  honor  and  order  of  the  House  to  give  account  of  any 
of  their  jDroceedings."  This  brought  them  into  collision 
with  the  Lords.  And  worse  was  behind.  For  thus  far 
the  King  had  not  been  implicated  ;  but  when  the  At- 
torney General  returned  presently  with  another  message 
signifying  that  the  Lords  had  acquainted  his  Majesty 
with  the  matter,  who  "  conceived  himself  engaged  and 
touched  in  -honor  that  there  might  be  some  conference 
of  it  between  the  two  Houses,  and  to  that  end  signified 
his  pleasure  unto  them,  and  by  them  to  this  House,"  — 
they  were  fairly  in  collision  with  all  three :  the  Chancery 
whose  judgment  they  had  reversed,  the  Lords  with  whom 
they  had  refused  to  confer,  and  the  King  who  had  taken 
part  with  the  Lords. 

Upon  this  they  moved  for  access  to  the  King  himself ; 
which  was  granted  for  the  next  morning.  A  committee 
was  immediately  named  (Bacon's  name  the  first  on  the 
list)  "  to  set  down  the  effect  of  that  which  Mr.  Speaker 
was  to  deliver  from  the  House  to  the  King."  And  on 
Wednesday  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  he  went,  ac- 
companied by  a  select  committee;  explained  their  whole 
proceeding,  and  the  grounds  of  it ;  heard  the  King's  an- 
swer to  the  several  points,  and  received  his  "charge,"  — 
which  was  that  they  should  first  resolve  amongst  them- 
selves, then  confer  with  the"  Judges  and  report  to  the 
Council.    All  which  he  related  to  the  House  the  next  day. 

And  now  came  a  grave  difficulty.  For  the  King  had 
argued  the  case  himself,  and  (as  he  could  not  easily  re- 
frain from  giving  an  answer  when  he  had  it  ready)  had 
personally  committed  himself  to  the  legal  doctrine  which 
had  been  laid  down,  I  suppose,  by  the  Lord  Chancellor 
and  the  Judges.  "By  the  law  (he  said)  this  House 
ought  not  to  meddle  with  returns,  being  all  made  into 
the  Chancery ;  and  are  to  be  corrected  and  reformed  by 
that  Court  only  into  which  they  are  returned.  In  35 
Hen.  VL,  it  was  the  resolution  of  all  the  Judires  that 


446       BACON'S  ADVICE  ON  SIR  F.  GOODWIN'S  CASE.     [Book  III. 

matter  of  outLnvry  was  a  sufficient  cause  of  the  dismission 
of  any  member  out  of  the  House.  The  Judges  have  now 
resolved  tliat  Sir  Francis  Goodwin  staudeth  outlawed  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  the  land,"  Not  merely  therefore 
upon  the  question  whether  they  should  confer  with  the 
Lords,  but  upon  the  entire  constitutional  question  in- 
volved in  the  case,  and  upon  each  several  point  of  it, 
they  were  now  engaged  in  a  direct  dispute  with  the  King 
himself.  Prerogative  and  Privilege  found  themselves 
suddenly  face  to  face  in  a  narrow  passage :  one  must 
stand  aside  to  let  the  other  pass,  or  each  must  be  content 
with  half  the  pathway.     What  was  to  be  done  ? 

Their  immediate  resolution  was  to  postpone  the  further 
consideration  of  the  question  till  the  next  morning.  In 
the  debate  which  then  took  place,  it  appeared  that  upon 
one  point  they  were  at  once  and  unanimously  resolved, — 
to  stand  fast  by  the  principle  that  they  were  judges  of 
their  own  returns,  sole  and  unaccountable.  On  that  point 
no  one  talked  of  a  compromise.  But  upon  the  question 
how  they  should  proceed  in  asserting  it,  opinions  were 
much  divided.  And  here  it  was  that  Bacon  became,  as 
I  take  it,  an  important  actor  in  the  matter. 

His  advice  amounted  to  this  :  Establish  the  privilege 
settle,  and  offer  (if  necessary)  to  amend,  the  law ;  but 
avoid  a  dispute  upon  the  particular  case.  The  King  has 
desired  that  we  should  argue  the  question  before  the 
Judges ;  let  us  consent  to  do  so ;  and  in  the  mean  time 
prepare  for  the  argument  by  considering  and  resolving 
upon  the  "  material  questions  "  which  it  will  raise. 

Others,  however,  were  strongly  against  yielding  to  the 
conference  ;  as  upon  a  matter  which  they  had  already 
decided  ;  and  the  debate  ended  in  the  appointmimt  of  a 
cominittei;  to  set  down  in  writing  tin;  reasons  of  their 
proceeding,  and  in  a  resolution — directly  against  Ba- 
con's recommendation — not  to  cctnfer  with  the  Judges. 
These  reasons — which  were  drawn  up  in  the  form  of  an 


1604.]         BACON'S  ADVICE  ON  SIR  F.  GOODWIN'S  CASE.  447 

address  to  the  King,  setting  forth  in  order  all  the  objec- 
tions made  "by  his  Majesty  and  his  reverend  Judges,  " 
and  answering  thera  point  by  point  —  having  been  read 
and  approved,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  take  them 
up  to  the  Lords,  and  the  same  afternoon  (April  3)  they 
were  delivered  by  the  liands  of  Bacon  ;  whose  report  of 
what  passed  is  thus  recorded  in  the  Journals :  — 

"  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  having  the  day  before  delivered 
to  the  Lords,  in  the  Council  Chamber  at  Whitehall,  ac- 
cording to  the  direction  of  the  House,  the  reasons  in 
writing,  penned  by  the  committee  touching  Sir  Francis 
Goodwin's  case,  maketh  report  of  what  passed  at  the 
time  of  the  said  deliver}^ :  First,  that  though  the  com- 
mittees employed  were  a  number  specially  deputed  and 
selected,  yet  that  the  Lords  admitted  all  Burgesses  with- 
out distinction  :  That  they  offered  it  with  testimony  of 
their  own  speed  and  care  in  the  business,  so  as,  they  said, 
no  one  thing  had  precedency,  but  only  the  Bill  of  Recog- 
nition :  That  they  luid  such  respect  for  the  weight  of  it, 
as  they  had  not  committed  it  to  any  frailty  of  memory, 
or  verbal  relation,  but  put  it  into  writing  for  more  per- 
manent memory  of  their  duty  and  respect  to  his  Maj- 
esty's grace  and  favor:  That  in  conclusion  they  prayed 
their  Lordships,  sithence  they  had  nearer  access,  they 
Avould  cooperate  with  them  for  the  King's  satisfaction  ; 
and  so  delivered  the  writing  to  the  hands  of  the  Lord 
Chancellor ;  who,  receiving  it,  demanded  whether  they 
should  send  it  to  the  King  or  first  peruse  it.  To  which 
was  answered.  That  since  it  was  the  King's  pleasure  they 
should  concur,  they  desired  their  Lordships  would  first 
peruse  it.  The  Lord  Cicell  demanded,  Whether  they 
had  warrant  to  amplify,  explain,  or  debate  any  doubt  or 
question  made  upon  the  reading :  To  which  it  was  said, 
they  had  no  warrant.  And  so  the  writing  AAas  read,  and 
no  more  done  at  that  time." 

The  writing  in  question  was  drawn  up  in  a  style  ver}' 


448  CONFERENCE   WITH   THE  JUDGES.  [Book  IH. 

well  suited  to  the  purpose  ;  being  clear  and  conclusive, 
and  yet  temperate  and  respectful ;  and  including  an  in- 
timation that  they  had  already,  in  deference  to  the  King's 
remarks,  prepared  an  act  disabling  all  outlaws  thence- 
forth to  serve  in  Parliament ;  and  it  seems  probable  that 
the  difference  would  have  been  arranged  without  fur- 
ther difficulty,  had  it  not  been  for  that  formal  resolution 
against  consenting  to  a  conference  with  the  Judges  which 
bad  been  passed  so  shortly  before.  The  King  had  pro- 
fessed to  Lave  no  personal  interest  in  the  dispute,  and 
treated  it  merely  as  a  question  of  constitutional  law, 
upon  which  he  had  been  guided  by  the  opinion  of  the 
Judges.  The  argument  of  the  Commons  went  directly 
in  the  teeth  of  that  opinion  ;  and  he  would  naturally 
wish  to  hear  what  the  Judges  had  to  say  in  reply,  and 
what  the  Commons  might  have  to  say  in  reply  to  them 
again.  And  as  they  had  voluntarily  waived  their  right 
of  refusing  to  give  an  account  of  their  proceedings  to 
anybody,  there  seemed  to  be  no  reason  why  they  should 
insist  upon  doing  it  in  the  absence  of  those  with  whom 
the  dispute  really  was. 

Their  answer  to  the  King's  and  Judges'  objections  had 
been  delivered  to  the  Lords  on  the  afternoon  of  the  od  of 
Aj)ri],  without  any  intimation  of  tlu!ir  resolution  (passed 
tjie  evening  before)  against  a  conference  with  the  Judges. 
On  the  morning  of  the  5th,  the  King  —  perhaps  not 
knowing,  certainly  not:  having  been  formally  apprised  of 
that  resolution — sent  for  the  Spi'aker ;  told  him  that 
'^  lu',  had  seen  and  eonsid(.*red  of  the  manni'r  and  the  mat- 
tei"  ;  he  had  lieaid  his  .Iiidges  and  ('ouncil,  and  that  he 
was  now  distracted  in  judgment.  Therefore  for  his 
fuither  satisfaction  he  desired  anil  eommandiMl  as  an  ab- 
sohite  l\ing,  that  thei(i  might  bo  a  conference  between 
the  Jlous(;  and  the  Judges;  aiul  that  for  this  ])urpose 
there  might  \n'.  a  select  committee  of  grave  and  h-ained 
persons  out  of  tiu;  House,  and  that  liis  Council  might  be 


1604.]  CONFERENCE   WITH   THE  JUDGES.  449 

present,  not  as  umpires  to  determine,  but  to  report  in- 
differently on  both  sides." 

If  there  was  any  doubt  before  as  to  the  expediency  of 
the  former  resolution,  there  uould  be  none  now  ;  for  upon 
receiving  this  "  unexpected  message,"  they  consented  at 
once,  and  vei*y  judiciously,  to  abandon  it.  They  were  in- 
deed involved  in  a  dilemma,  out  of  which  the  only  escape 
lay  backwards;  and  the  same  member  who  had  before 
been  most  vehement  not  only  against  conference,  but  ap- 
parently against  compromise  of  any  kind,  was  now  fore- 
most to  retreat.  "  The  Prince's  command,"  said  Yelver- 
ton  (for  it  was  he  who  first  broke  the  silence),  "is  like  a 
thunderbolt ;  his  command  upon  our  allegiance  is  like  the 
roaring  of  a  lion.  To  his  command  there  is  no  contradic- 
tion. But  how  or  in  what  manner  we  should  now  pro- 
ceed to  perform  obedience,  that  will  be  the  question." 
Another  suggested  that  the  King  should  be  present  him- 
self at  the  conference,  to  hear,  judge,  and  moderate  the 
cause  in  person.  And  a  select  committee  was  thereupon 
appointed  "to  confer  with  the  judges  of  the  law  touch- 
ing the  reasons  of  proceeding  in  Sir  Francis  Goodwin's 
case,  ....  in  the  presence  of  the  Lords  of  his  INIajesty's 
Council;  according  to  his  Majesty's  pleasure  signilied  by 
Mr.  Speaker  this  day  to  the  House ;  "  the  committee  to 
"  insist  upon  the  fortification  and  explaining  of  the  rea- 
sons and  answers  delivered  unto  his  Majesty  ;  and  not 
proceed  to  any  other  argument  or  answer,  what  occasion 
soever  moved  in  the  time  of  that  debate." 

The  next  day  being  Good  Friday,  the  House  was  ad- 
journed for  a  Aveek  and  did  not  meet  again  till  the  lltli 
of  April.  In  the  course  of  that  day,  —  upon  the  return 
(I  suppose)  of  the  committees  from  the  conference,  —  Ba- 
con, who  had  been  spokesman,  was  called  on  for  a  report 
of  w^hat  had  passed ;  and  when  he  replied  that  "  he  was 
not  warranted   to  make  any  report,  —  and   tantum  per- 

missum  quantum  eommissum^'"  it   was   ordered  that  the 
Vol.  I.  29 


450  COMPROMISE  SUGGESTED   BY   THE  KING.      [Book  IH. 

committees  sliould  have  another  meeting  for  conference 
amongst  themselves,  and  that  he  should  then  make  his 
report. 

The  notes  of  the  report  -which  he  made,  like  most  of 
those  in  the  Commons'  Journals,  are  not  abstracts  of  what 
was  spoken,  but  merely  disjointed  fragments,  made  to 
look  continuous  by  the  simple  process  of  writing  them 
out  in  sequence.  The  note- taker  seems  to  have  set  down 
as  much  as  he  could  follow  ;  sometimes  the  beginning  of 
a  sentence,  sometimes  the  end  ;  leaving  gaps  of  all  sorts 
and  sizes  ;  so  that  it  is  often  difficult  to  assign  the  sev- 
eral sentences  to  the  several  speakers,  or  to  make  out  so 
much  as  the  general  course  of  the  argument. 

In  this  case,  however,  we  may  gather  that  the  King 
began  by  maintaining  that  the  Court  of  Chancery  and 
the  House  of  Commons  being  both  courts  of  record,  with 
power  to  judge  of  returns,  neither  of  them  could  be  called 
in  question  by  the  other,  and  therefore  that  the  first  judg- 
ment must  stand  ;  to  which  Bacon  answered  on  behalf  of 
the  Commons,  that  the  Chancery  was  a  judge  of  the  re- 
turns only  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  House,  which 
as  soon  as  it  was  made  became  itself  the  judge ;  for 
otherwise,  if  the  Chancery  were  governed  by  the  Sherid's 
return,  and  the  House  might  not  call  the  return  in  ques- 
tion, the  Sheriff's  return  did  in  effect  bind  the  Parlia- 
ment. It  may  be  gathered  further  that  upon  this  j)oint 
(which  was  the  material  one),  though  the  Judges  were 
still  prepared  to  contest  it,  the  King  was  prepared  to 
yield;  but,  in  order  to  settle  the  difTcn-ence  more  hand- 
somely, proposed  that  the  two  Courts  should  meet  each 
other  li;df-way  ;  and  ther(^f()re  that  built  returns  should 
be  set  aside,  a  new  writ  be  issued,  and  a  new  ehiction 
proceed;  tliut.  to  this  proiiosal  (which  was  in  Jiccordance 
with  his  own  former  advice,  namely,  to  content  them- 
selves with  eslablisliiiig  tln,'ir  privilege,  and  avoid  a  con- 
test with  *!:e  King  about  the  particular  case)  Ijacon  made 


JG04.]  COMPROMISE  SUGGESTED  BY  THE  KING.  451 

no  objection  ;  but  reported  it  to  the  House  and  recom- 
mended them  to  accede  to  it. 

If  in  thus  entertaining  the  question  of  a  compromise 
he  a  little  exceeded  liis  commission  (and  exception  was 
taken  to  his  report  on  that  ground  by  some  members,  as 
"  drawing  upon  the  House  a  note  of  inconsistency  and 
levity  "),  it  was  a  wise  liberty  and  well  accepted  by  the 
great  majority  ;  for  "  the  acclamation  of  the  House  was, 
that  it  was  a  testimony  of  their  duty,  and  no  levity  ;  " 
and  it  was  forthwith  resolved  (Sir  Francis  Goodwin's 
formal  consent  having  been  first  obtained)  to  issue  a 
writ  for  a  new  election  and  to  send  a  message  of  thanks 
to  the  King ;  which  was  delivered  accordingly  on  the 
12th  of  April,  and  accepted  verj^  graciously.  And  so 
that  business  ended. 

It  was  a  good  example  to  show  how  such  differences 
might  be  successfully  and  satisfactorily  arranged.  For 
the  Privilege  was  never  afterwards  called  in  question  ; 
and  in  the  mean  time  the  concession,  which  was  in  itself 
quite  immaterial,  satisfied  the  King;  who,  though  jealous 
of  his  Prerogative,  does  not  appear  to  have  had  any  in- 
tention of  interfering  with  their  liberties  ;  but  would  have 
been  ready,  I  think,  to  settle  all  such  questions  almost  as 
they  would,  so  long  as  he  was  allowed  to  feel  that  in  as- 
senting to  their  petitions  he  was  using  his  Prerogative 
and  not  abandoning  it. 

This  and  other  disputes,  though  not  without  their  im- 
portance in  the  development  of  our  Parliamentary  consti- 
tution, were  serious  and  vexatious  interruptions  to  the 
great  businesses  of  the  time,  upon  which  the  House  had 
shown  every  disposition  to  enter  promptly  and  earnestlv. 
The  greatest  of  these  was  no  doubt  that  which  tlie  King 
had  especially  recommended  to  them,  and  co  which  his 
own  aspirations  were  at  this  time  almost  exclusivelv  di- 
rected, —  the  Union  of  England  and  Scotland  ;  a  national 
work  of  which  it  was  hardly  possible  to  overrate  the  ini- 


152  UNION  OF  ENGLAND  AND  SCOTLAND.  [Book  IIL 

portance.  But  it  was  full  of  difficulties  and  had  to  be 
approached  with  caution.  In  the  mean  time  there  were 
other  questions  which  stood  much  in  need  of  settlement 
and  might  be  proceeded  with  at  once  ;  and  though  the 
results  attained  were  not  destined  to  be  considerable  for 
the  present,  the  subsequent  history  of  the  reign,  and  es- 
pecially of  Bacon's  political  career,  cannot  be  properly 
understood  without  careful  observation  of  the  first  move- 
ments. 

1.  The  law  which  gave  to  the  Crown  the  wardship  of 
minors,  springing  originally  out  of  the  obligations  of  the 
feudal  system,  had  ceased  to  be  fit  for  the  existing  con- 
dition of  society,  and  began  to  be  felt  as  a  burden  and  a 
grievance  to  the  subject.  Being  nevertheless  a  source  of* 
considerable  revenue  to  the  Crown,  the  legality  of  which 
was  not  disputed,  it  was  a  fit  subject  for  Parliament  to 
deal  with  by  way  of  bargain. 

2.  The  officers  whose  duty  it  was  to  provide  food,  car- 
riage, and  other  necessaries  for  the  Court  in  its  journeys 
had  of  old  been  in  the  habit  of  abusing  their  authority 
and  many  acts  had  been  passed  to  keep  them  in  order ; 
but  the  abuses  still  continued,  and  formed  another  serious 
grievance. 

'3.  The  popular  clamor  against  monopolies  had  been 
idlayed  for  the  time  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  as  we  have 
seen  ;  and  one  of  James's  first  acts  Avas  to  carry  out  luu* 
intentions,  by  a  Proclamation  prohibiting  the  use  of  any 
monopoly-license  ("  except  such  grants  only  as  had  been 
math;  to  any  corporation,  or  company,  of  any  art  or 
mystery,  or  for  the  maintenance  or  enlargement  ol"  any 
ti'ade  or  nn'rchandise  ")  till  it  had  becMi  examined  and 
alldwcd  of  l)y  tlu;  King,  with  (he  advice;  of  his  Council, 
"to  bf,  lit  to  Ix!  ))iit  in  executiiiii  willinut  any  ])rrjii(li('(! 
to  his  loving  subjcctts."  IJut  the  true  state  of  the  law 
with  regard  to  thcsi;  patents,  and  lo  the  pow(!r  exercised 
by  the    Crown    nf  graiiliiig   dispeiisutioiis    fioiii    penalties 


1604.J  WARDSHIP,  PURVEYANCK,  MONOPOLIES,  ETC  453 

imposed  by  statutes,  which  was  part  of  the  same  ques- 
tion, was  still  doubtful,  and  it  was  a  fit  time  to  settle 
it. 

4.  Since  the  Hampton  Court  Conference,  a  new  edition 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  had  been  put  forth  by 
authority,  with  some  alterations  and  explanations  ;  and 
a  confirraation  of  it  by  Act  of  Parliament  was  thought 
expedient. 

All  these  questions,  with  one  or  two  others  of  less  im- 
portance, were  brought  under  consideration  of  the  House 
on  the  first  day  (23d  March),  and  being  immediately 
referred  to  a  committee  (of  which  Bacon  was  a  member, 
and  I  suppose  an  active  one,  since  he  was  selected  to 
make  their  first  report  to  the  House)  were  proceeded 
with  at  once. 

The  three  last  came  within  the  powers  of  the  House 
in  its  ordinary  course  of  legislation.  For  the  abuses  of 
Purveyors  and  Car-takers,  a  sub-committee  was  appointed 
to  peruse  the  former  statutes  concerning  them,  and  to 
draw  a  Bill  for  their  restraint.  With  respect  to  dispen- 
sations from  Penal  Statutes,  a  Bill  was  reported  ready 
drawn,  which  was  to  be  offered  for  the  consideration  of 
the  whole  House.  For  Monopolies,  all  persons  aggrieved 
were  invited  to  bring  in  their  complaints  in  writing,  that 
the  committee  might  consider  them  and  frame  a  law  ac- 
cording to  the  cause.  For  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
a  sub-committee  (in  the  list  of  which  Bacon's  name 
stands  first)  was  appointed  to  "  capitulate  the  altera- 
tions "  and  lay  them  before  the  committee  in  writing, 
"together  with  their  own  opinion  of  the  said  book." 

But  the  question  of  Wardship  was  of  a  different  char- 
acter. Being  a  matter  of  arrangement,  which  would  re- 
quire the  concurrence  beforehand  of  both  the  King  and 
the  Lords,  who  had  a  personal  and  legal  interest  in  it, 
they  judged  it  necessarj^  to  begin  with  a  conference. 

The   Lords  were  quite   ready   to  confer,  and  only  de- 


454    PETITIOX  TO  THE  KING  TOUCHING  PURVEYORS.   [Book  HI. 

sired  that  some  other  things  of  tlie  same  kind  —  as  Res- 
pite of  Homage,  License  of  Alienation,  and  the  general 
abuse  of  Purveyors  and  Car-takers  —  might  be  included 
in  the  consultation.  To  this  the  Commons  readily 
agreed,  and  the  proper  number  of  committees  being  ap- 
pointed, the  Conference  took  place  the  same  afternoon. 

Bacon,  who  was  employed  to  make  the  report,  will  re- 
appear hereafter  in  a  more  prominent  position  in  connec- 
tion -with  this  question  of  Wardship  ;  but  in  the  subse- 
quent proceedings  during  the  present  session  I  do  not  find 
any  notice  of  the  part  he  took,  or  whether  he  took  any 
part.  The  cause  appears  to  have  been  under  the  special 
charge  of  Sir  Edwyn  Sandys,  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  in- 
dependent members ;  but  it  made  no  further  way.  Many 
accidents  intervened  to  postpone  the  proposed  Confer- 
ence ;  and  by  the  time  it  took  place  (which  was  not  be- 
fore the  end  of  May)  tempers  were  altered,  and  the  re- 
sult was  unsatisfactory.  But  of  this  I  shall  have  occasion 
to  speak  further  on,  in  connection  with  the  circumstances 
which  brought  the  session  to  a  somewhat  sullen  and 
cloudy  end. 

The  movement  against  the  Purveyors,  in  the  mean 
time,  had  fared  a  little  better.  Though  the  Commons 
had  readily  assented  to  the  proposal  of  tlie  Lords  that 
this  subject  among  others  should  be  discussed  at  the  Con- 
ference, they  would  not  allow  it  to  be  put  into  the  same 
boat  with  Wardship  and  Tenures,  but  resolved  to  deal 
with  it  soparatelv.  Listead,  however,  of  dealing  with  it 
directly  by  a  liill  —  whicli  was  their  first  intention  —  they 
concluded  upon  further  consideration  that  it  would  be 
more  prudent  to  feel  and  ])reparo  their  way  by  a  petition 
to  the  King,  to  be  deUvered  "  with  some  speech  of  iiitro- 
(hiction  and  explanation,"  and  that  speech  to  be  nuide  by 
iiacon. 

This  speech  was  delivered  on  the  2Tth  of  April,  while 
the   King  was  eagerly  urging  on  the  settlement  of    the 


1G04.]     CONFERENCE  WITH  LORDS  TOUCHING  PURVEYORS.     455 

Union,  a  measure  which  was  proceeding  slowly  through 
a  variety  of  obstructions,  very  trying  to  his  patience, 
though  they  had  not  yet  prevailed  over  it.  He  was  not 
at  all  in  a  humor  to  make  any  new  difficulty,  and  in  this 
case  he  had  no  temptation.  He  had  no  sympathy  with 
extortionate  Purveyors,  wliora  he  was  always  ready  to 
hand  over  to  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  in  case  of  com- 
plaint ;  and  having  committed  himself  to  no  opinion 
which  the  motion  threatened  to  assail,  he  was  quite  ready 
with  a  gracious  answer  and  allowance.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  movement,  thus  gracefully ^nd  judiciously 
conducted,  was  so  far  quite  successful.  The  Commons 
had  his  full  consent  to  proceed  with  their  professed  ob- 
ject, and  were  only  desired  to  confer  with  the  Privy 
Council  about  it. 

In  a  subsequent  conference  with  the  Lords  an  annual 
payment  of  <£50,000  by  way  of  composition  was  pro- 
posed ;  which  was  more  then  the  Commons  were  prepared 
to  give.  But  difficulties  were  found  as  to  both  matter 
and  manner,  and  their  consultations  amongst  themselves 
(in  which  I  find  no  further  traces  of  Bacon  except  in  a 
recommendation  to  be  content  with  the  substance,  if  they 
could  get  it,  and  not  to  stand  upon  the  foi-m,  "  That 
we  be  not  in  Tantalus'  case,  Spectat  aquas  in  aquis  et 
poma  fugacia  capiat :  since  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  his 
Majesty  will  give  us  satisfaction  in  the  matter,  let  us 
give  him  satisfaction  in  the  manner  ")  ended  at  last  in 
a  resolution  (^d  June)  to  postpone  all  further  proceeding 
till  the  next  session,  and  to  send  a  message  to  the  Lords 
to  that  effect. 

The  truth  was  that  other  misunderstandings  had  arisen, 
wbich  made  smooth  proceeding  at  present  more  and  more 
difficult.  And,  to  explain  these,  we  must  now  follow  the 
great  Union  question  through  its  first  stages. 

The  proceedings  in  relation  to  the  Union  began  on  the 
14th  of  April,  with  a  message  from  the  Lords  inviting  the 


456  THE  QUESTION  OF  UNION.  [Uooic  III. 

Commons  to  a  conference.  Their  proposition  (announced 
by  the  Lord  Chancellor  as  "  the  King's  purpose  ")  was  to 
agree  first  upon  a  union  in  Name,  and  proceed  afterwards 
to  the  consideration  of  laws  and  government,  their  reason, 
I  suppose,  being  that  the  Name  appeared  to  be  a  simple 
thing  which  might  be  settled  at  once;  while  the  other 
would  be  a  long  business. 

It  soon  appeared,  however,  that  an  alteration  by  Act  of 
Parliament  of  the  name  and  style  of  the  two  kingdoms 
was  not  so  simple  a  thing  as  it  seemed  to  be.  And  the 
question  being. after  much  discussion  and  many  confer- 
ences referred  to  the  Judges,  who  all  agreed  that  it  would 
involve  the  extinction  of  all  the  laws  then  in  force,  it 
was  settled  that  tlie  name  and  style  should  not  be  med- 
dled with,  and  they  should  confine  themselves  to  the  ap- 
pointment of  Commissioners  to  consider  the  other  ques- 
tions incident  to  a  complete  anion  and  incorporation  of 
both  laws  and  kingdoms. 

This  was  on  the  oOth  of  April.  On  the  12th  of  May 
Bacon  delivered  in  "  a  draft  of  the  Act  for  the  Author- 
izing of  Commissioners." 

On  the  same  day  the  House  proceeded  to  the  choice  of 
the  persons  who  were  to  be  trusted  with  the  Commission ; 
and  having  first  agreed  that  the  list  should  include  two 
Privy  Councillors,  two  Ambassadors,  four  Common  Law- 
yers, two  Civilians,  four  Merchants,  and  sixteen  Country 
Gentlemen,  they  had  the  names  proposed  one  by  one,  and 
a  several  question  put  upon  every  name  ;  and  so  the  num- 
ber was  filled  up.  '^I'ho  names  were  marshalUid  afterwards 
according  to  i-ank ;  but  it  seems  that  they  were  proposed 
in  order  of  importance  ;  for  the  first  vote  was  given  for 
Bacon. ^  It  now  remained  only  to  agree  with  tin;  Lords 
upon   th(!   frame  of  the  Act,  which   led   to  two  or   thrci^ 

1  "Anil  that  iiiVMclf  wiiH  hy  (ho  Ci)minotis  Kniccd  with  tlio  (irst  vote  of  all  (ho 
ConiiniKHiiiniTH  Hfhicted  for  that  cause." — Certain  Articles  or  Cmuidi-rdliona 
touchiny  the  Union  of  the  Kingdoms,  etc. 


1604  J        LETTER  TO  THE  COMMONS  FROM   THE  KING.  457 

additional  conferences,  but  to  no  material  disagreement ; 
and  the  Bill,  being  sent  down  from  the  Upper  House  on 
the- 30th  of  May,  went  as  fast  as  possible  through  its 
regular  stages,  and  was  passed  by  the  Commons  on  the 
2d  of  June.  Which  was  as  much  as  could  be  done  in 
the  matter,  to  any  good  purpose,  for  the  present. 

Thus  far  the  King  had  in  fact  conceded  all  that  was 
necessary  easily  enough,  and  in  time  enough ;  insomuch 
that  if  he  had  only  kept  his  thoughts  and  feeHngs  to  him- 
self, his  acts  would  have  appeared  wise,  prudent,  and  tem- 
perate. But  though  good  sense  and  good  nature  had  pre- 
vailed with  him  in  action,  he  was  in  his  heart  a  good  deal 
disappointed  and  mortified  at  finding  so  many  difficulties 
made,  in  a  work  from  which  he  had  looked  for  nothing 
but  applause  and  congratulation  and  everlasting  honor ; 
and  this  mortification,  unfortunately,  he  could  not  help 
betraying.  On  the  21st  of  April  he  had  told  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  Commons  that  "  he  wished  his  heart  were 
of  crystal,  that  all  might  see  his  cogitations  ;  "  and  on  the 
1st  of  May  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  House,  which  sliowed 
that  his  wish  had  been  granted,  —  a  letter  of  which  tlie 
business  and  practical  errand  was  merely  to  say  that  the 
point  to  which  they  demurred  was  withdrawn,  and  that 
they  were  free  to  deal  with  the  question  in  their  own 
way  ;  but  in  which  the  personal  sensibilities  of  a  man 
who  felt  that  his  affection  had  been  ill-requited,  his  words 
ill-weighed,  his  intentions  misunderstood,  his  hopes  dis- 
appointed, showed  through  in  every  line,  and  in  its  turn 
so  hurt  the  feelings  of  his  faithful  Commons  —  for  the 
House  (strange  to  say)  had  feelings  almost  as  jealous  and 
sensitive  as  his  own  —  that  they  were  hardly  dissuaded 
from  making  a  formal  grievance  of  the  letter,  and  peti- 
tioning for  access,  that  they  might  give  him  what  they 
called  "  satisfacti(m,*'  which  always  meant  an  argument- 
ative demonstration  that  they  were  right  and  he  was 
wrong.     This  danger  was  happily  avoided  for  the  present 


458  AN   UNEXPECTED  CAUSE  OF  QUARREL.        [Book  III. 

by  another  message,  intimating  his  gracious  acceptance 
of  both  the  intention  and  the  forbearance.  But  wounded 
hearts  remain  tender ;  and  there  were  several  businesses 
in  progress  which  could  hardlj'  be  handled  without  danger 
of  fresh  irritation.  The  Committee  was  still  engaged  in 
collecting  evidence  of  the  abuses  of  Purveyance.  The 
composition  for  Wardship  —  a  money-bargain  for  relief 
from  an  oppressive  prerogative — was  still  under  discus- 
sion. The  struggle  with  the  Warden  of  the  Fleet  over 
the  body  of  Sir  Thomas  Shirley  ^  was  at  its  hottest.  A 
series  of  conferences  with  the  Lords  and  Bishops  was 
bringing  them  nearer  and  nearer  to  points  of  inevitable 
and  irreconcilable  disagreement.  Not  a  word  had  been 
said  as  yet  about  Supply.  And  in  the  middle  of  all  this 
there  sprung  up  a  new  and  unexpected  cause  of  quarrel, 
in  a  book  just  published  b}^  one  of  the  Bishops:  a  book 
tending  (according  to  tlu'  description  given  by  the  member 
who  brought  it  under  notice)  "to  the  derogation  and 
scandal  of  the  proceedings  of  the  House  in  the  matter  of 
the  Union  ;  answering  the  objections  made  against  the 
union  in  Name;  and  taking  knowledge  of  many  other 
passages  of  the  House  touching  that  matter;  unmeet  to 
be  questioned  by  any,  much  less  by  any  member  of  the 
Higher  House." 

Here  again  their  first  impulse  was  "  to  go  to  his  Majesty 
and  exj)ress  their  grief,  because  it  seemed  to  be  done  cum 
jjrivilegio ;""  meaning  (I  suppose)  that  as  a  published 
book  it  must  be  held  as  authorized  by  the  King.  But 
being  reminded  that  tlie  Bishop  was  a  member  of  the 
Upper  House,  they  determined  to  make  their  complaint 
first  to  th(Mn  ;  and  it  turned  out,  fortunately  for  the  peace 
of  the  time,  tliat  he  had  no  friends  there;  for  aftiu*  an 
exchange  of  one  or  two  preliminary  messages,  it  was 
answered   in  conference  by  Lord  Cecil  that  he  had  been 

'  A  Monibfr  tt\  I'ltrlinincnl  who  linrl  been  arrestcil  for  debt,  leading  to  a  dis- 
pute regardiiiir  tho  nuibority  of  ilio  Hoiiso  of  Conimnns. 


1604.]  PPvOTEST  FROM  THE  CONVOCATION   HOUSE.  459 

rebuked   and   made    to    own    his   fault  and    express   bis 
regret. 

At  tbe  same  time  a  more  legitimate  cause  of  remon- 
strance was  given  by  a  protest  from  the  Convocation 
House  against  tbe  pretensions  of  tbe  House  of  Commons 
to  "■  deal  in  any  matters  of  religion ;  "  accompanied  with 
a  tbreat  that  if  tbe  Bisbops  would  not  desist  from  con- 
ferring witli  tbem,  "tbey  would  appeal  to  tbe  King,  wbo 
had  given  them  authority  to  deal  only  in  such  matters." 
This  protest,  having  been  publicly  read  by  a  Bishop  at  a 
conference,  put  them  upon  seai'cbing  for  "  precedents," 
• —  a  search  which  is  sure  to  end  favorably  to  the  stronger 
party,  and  would  undoubted!}'  have  raised  a  storm,  had 
either  the  King  or  the  Lords  taken  part  with  Convoca- 
tion. As  it  was,  a  declaration  from  the  Bishop  of  Lou- 
don that  "tbey  conceived  the  privilege  of  Parliament  to 
stand  upright  "  was  accepted  as  sufficient. 

All  these  incidental  troubles  must  have  been  very  an- 
noying to  the  King,  if  only  as  delays  and  interruptions, 
thougb  he  had  tbe  prudence  to  keep  personally  clear  of 
tbem ;  and  there  were  other  measures  coming  on,  in 
which  it  was  hardly  possible  to  avoid  a  direct  disagree- 
ment. He  bad  settled  the  Church  question  to  his  own 
satisfaction  at  tbe  Hampton  Court  Conference ;  and  now 
the  Commons  were  urging  a  large  measure  of  reform,  in 
the  interest  of  the  non-conforming  clergy.  He  had  taken 
order  for  the  revocation  of  all  monopolies  which  should 
appear  to  himself  and  Council  prejudicial  to  the  subject; 
and  now  they  were  preparing  a  large  measure  for  the 
liberation  of  trade,  aimed  at  the  monopolies  of  the  great 
companies.  The  discussion  of  the  terms  of  the  proposed 
composition  for  Wardship  and  Tenures  led  inevitably 
to  inquiries  into  the  true  state  of  the  Crown  revenue, 
which  was  then  reckoned  one  of  the  arcana  imperii,  — 
no  fit  subject  for  popular  criticism. 

Under  these  various  trials,  the  scanty  measure  of  pa- 


460  TOUCHING  WARDSHIP  AND   TENURES  [Hour   III. 

tience  with  which  he  was  endowed  by  nature  liad  begun 
to  fail,  and  the  distastes  against  which  he  had  hitherto 
been  struggling,  to  reassert  themselves,  encouraged  no 
doubt  by  the  sympathy  they  were  sure  to  meet  with  from 
the  conservatism  which  prevails  in  all  Upper  Houses, 
whether  temporal  or  spiritual;  when  this  same  Ward- 
ship and  Tenure  question,  which  had  been- opened  under 
Bacon's  management  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  with 
fair  words  and  prospects,  came  at  last  (30th  May)  to  be 
discussed  in  a  conference  managed  by  Sir  Edwin  Sandys, 
and  found  the  weather  quite  changed.  Not  that  the 
Commons  had  changed  their  ground.  What  they  desired 
was  no  more  than  the  Lords  had  already  in  a  general 
way  and  with  seeming  alacrity  agreed  to,  namely,  that 
they  would  join  with  them  in  a  petition  to  the  King  for 
leave  to  treat ;  the  particulars  being  to  be  arranged  in 
conference.  But  they  now  discountenanced  the  proposi- 
tion altogether;  and  besides  answering  the  reasons  urged 
by  tlie  Commons,  went  on  to  expostulate  witli  them  on 
the  manner  in  which  they  had  spent  their  time  ;  all 
speaking  in  the  same  sense.  Scnsi  ex  composto  iwm  f/rri, 
said  Sir  E.  Sandys  in  concluding  his  report.  And  to 
make  matters  worse,  no  sooner  iiad  the  conFeroncc^  broken 
oil"  on  these  unsatisfactory  terms,  tliaii  llu^  King,  by  a 
coincidence  which  if  undesigned  was  unhieky,  desired 
the  attendance  of  the  whole  House,  that  he,  might  speidc 
to  them.  And  his  speech,  being  (as  we  gather  from 
what  followed,  for  I  find  no  report  of  it)  a  review  of  all 
their  proceedings  during  tiie  session  in  a  tone  of  censun; 
and  dissatisfaction,  had  the  usual  effect  of  hurting  their 
feelings  and  provoking  them  to  reply,  and  "instantly  to 
advis(!  of  such  a  form  of  satisfaction,  either  by  writing  or 
otherwis(j,  as  might  in  all  humility  inform  his  Majesty  in 
th(!  truth  and  clearness  of  the  actions  and  intentions  of 
the  House;  froni  the  beginning,"  —  and  so  on. 

A   proceeding   liUe   this  —  entailing  as  it   must  a   per 


1604.]  THE   KING'S  APOLOGY  TO  THE  COMMONS.  461 

soniil  controversy  with  the  King  on  points  to  which  he 
had  thus  publicly  committed  himself  —  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  have  a  satisfactory  result.  But  it  would  take 
time.  Time  would  allow  feelings  to  cool  on  both  sides : 
and  meanwhile  they  could  give  satisfaction  of  a  more 
promising  kind  by  making  haste  with  what  remained  to 
be  done.  The  Union  Act,  which  had  just  been  sent  down 
from  the  Lords,  had  been  read  once.  It  was  now  read  a 
second  time,  committed,  reported,  passed,  and  sent  back 
to  the  Lords,  by  whom  it  was  received  with  great  ap- 
plause, —  all  in  a  day :  the  day  after  the  King's  speech. 
And  it  was  agreed  at  the  same  time  that  all  further  pro- 
ceedings in  the  matter  of  Purveyors  should  be  allowed  to 
sleep  till  the  next  session.  Measures  which  were  not  lost 
upon  the  King:  as  maybe  seen  by  the  message  which  he 
sent  to  the  House  only  three  days  after. 

Mr.  Speaker  delivereth  from  the  King  a  message  of  three 
parts : 

The  motives  of  his  Majesty's  unkindness  : 

INIatter  of  his  relation  to  us : 

Of  his  pi-incely  satisfaction. 

When  he  looked  into  the  gravity  and  judgment  of  this  House, 
and  of  the  long  continuance  of  the  Parliament;  so  few  matters 
of  weight  passed,  and  that  matter  of  Privilege  had  taken  much 
time  (which,  notwithstanding,  he  was  as  careful  to  preserve  as 
we  ourselves)  ;  he  was  moved  with  jealousy  that  there  was  not 
such  proceeding  as,  in  love,  he  expected.  This  the  cause  of  un- 
kindness. 

That  we  should  not  think  this  declaration  to  us  was  any 
condemnation  of  our  ingratitude  or  forgetfulness  of  him  ;  but  by 
way  of  commemoration  and  admonition,  as  a  father  to  his  chil- 
dren ;  neither  did  he  tax  us ;  but  only  remember  us  of  expedi- 
tion, omitted  and  desired. 

Lastly,  that  he  is  resolved,  we  have  not  denied  anything 
W'hich  is  fit  to  be  granted.  That  he  had  divers  arguments  of 
»ur  good  affections : 

1.  Our  doubt  of  his  displeasure. 


462  APOLOGY   OF  THE  COMMONS.  [Book  III. 

2.  Oar  desire  to  give  him  satisfaction ;  which  he  accepteth  as 
a  thing  done,  because  desired  by  us. 

3.  He  observeth  the  difference  of  our  proceeding,  sithence 
his  speech  unto  us,  with  greater  expedition  in  those  things  de- 
sired to  be  effected  by  him,  than  before :  He  giveth  us  thanks, 
and  wisheth  we  would  not  trouble  ourselves  with  giving  him 
satisftiction. 

And  lie  giveth  what  time  we  desire  for  finishing  the  matters 
of  importance  depending. 

In  spite,  however,  of  this  message,  which  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  King's  Apology  to  the  Commons,  the  com- 
mittee appointed  to  prepare  the  threatened  Apology  of 
the  Commons  to  the  King  went  on  diligently  with  their 
work  ;  and  at  the  end  of  a  fortnight  laid  the  resnlt  before 
the  House,  —  a  grave  and  important  document,  in  which 
all  their  proceedings  that  had  been  found  fault  with  were 
recapitulated  and  justified,  point  by  point ;  and  which, 
though  not  formally  placed  on  I'ecord,  remains  to  this 
day  a  notable  landmark  in  the  progress  of  constitutional 
liberty.  The  question  was,  what  to  do  with  it.  I  do 
not  know  that  any  exception  was  or  could  be  taken 
to  cither  the  substance  of  it  or  the  style.  But  seeing 
that  the  positions  which  it  maintained  were  threatened 
only  in  words  and  by  implication,  that  the  Commons  re- 
mained masters  of  tlu'  field  in  fact,  that  tliere  was  no 
pretense  for  a  serious  declaration  of  hostilities,  and  tliat 
the  formal  delivery  of  such  an  argument  could  have  led 
to  nothing  but  an  angry  altercation  and  a  quarrel  in  tlie 
honey-moon,  which  would  have  been  bad  for  all  parties, 
those  who  wished  to  preserve  harmony  could  not  wish 
that  it  should  be  pressed  further.  Bacon  was  certainly 
among  those  who  spoke  against  presenting  it,  though  we 
have  no  account  of  wliat  he  said.  And  as  the  Journals 
contain  no  notice  of  tlie  final  resolution,  we  may  conclude 
iliat  it  was  in  favor  of  letting  the  disj)ut('  rest;  and  that 
the  document  was  not  ofhciaily  brought  under  the  King's 
notice. 


1604.]  APOLOGY   OF  THE  COMMONS.  463 

Nevertheless,  as  it  bad  been  twice  read  in  tbe  House, 
we  may  be  sure  that  be  beard  of  it :  and  tbat  unluckily 
at  a  time  wben  be  was  endeavoring  to  digest  a  fresb  dis- 
appointment. At  tbe  beginning  of  tbe  session,  boping  to 
please  everybody  and  wisbing  to  avoid  everytbing  that 
might  cast  a  shadow  over  the  general  satisfaction,  be  bad 
resolved  tbat  no  demand  should  be  made  on  bis  subjects 
for  money ;  and  in  this  resolution  be  bad  persevered  so 
constantly  and  so  long  tbat  I  have  no  doubt  it  was  a  true 
intention  of  his  own.  For  full  three  months  be  had  re- 
frained both  bis  tongue  and  bis  pen  from  all  allusion  to 
the  subject,  bad  not  said  so  much  as  that  he  meant  to 
say  nothing,  but  maintained  on  all  occasions  a  politic 
and  dignified  reserve  which  was  very  unusual  with  him. 
Now,  however,  tbat  the  prorogation  was  near  at  hand,  it 
was  represented  to  him  by  some  who  thought  they  under- 
stood the  Lower  House,  tbat  a  session  closing  without 
any  vote  of  supply  would  have  a  bad  appearance,  and 
be  subject  to  unfavorable  construction.  Upon  which  it 
seems  to  have  been  arranged  that,  the  Lords  having  or 
making  occasion  to  confer  with  tbe  Commons  upon  a 
Tonnage  and  Poundage  Bill,  the  opportunity  should  be 
taken  to  give  them  some  information  about  the  financial 
condition  of  tbe  kingdom,  —  with  a  hint  tbat  an  offer  of 
subsidy  would  not  be  unwelcome. 

Simultaneously  with  this  a  motion  was  made  in  the 
House  of  Commons  for  a  committee  to  consider  of  some 
sort  of  gratuity  to  be  offered  to  tbe  King.  But  Avboever 
advised  it,  it  was  an  unlucky  motion.  Though  introduced 
by  two  of  tbe  most  independent  and  popular  members  — 
Sir  Francis  Hastings  and  Sir  Edward  Hoby  —  in  tbe  in- 
terest of  national  honor,  harmony,  and  reputation  abroad, 
it  was  received  so  doubtfully  tbat  the  King  thought  it 
best  to  avoid  the  risk  of  a  refusal  by  making  it  bis  per- 
sonal request  —  a  request  conveyed  in  a  letter  too  trans- 
parent to  allow  a  doubt  of  its  sincerity  — that  they  would 
not  meddle  any  further  in  the  question. 


464  PENSION  FOR  LIFE.  [Book  III. 

This  of  course  was  not  the  issue  which  had  been  in- 
tended or  anticipated,  and  (coming  upon  him  at  the  same 
time  with  rumors  of  the  ''  Apology  ")  proved  more  than 
he  could  comfortably  digest.  And  though  the  Speaker,  by 
a  lavish  profession  of  affection,  admiration,  and  loyalty, 
made  in  the  name  of  all  the  Commons,  —  together  with  a 
liberal  offer  of  all  they  had  whenever  it  was  wanted,  —  did 
as  much  as  words  could  do  to  make  the  parting  pleasant, 
the  King  could  not  bring  himself  to  repay  the  flattery  in 
kind,  but  frankly  told  them  exactly  what  he  felt.  And 
so  Parliament  was  prorogued  on  the  7th  of  July,  and 
they  parted  for  the  present,  each  with  better  means  of 
knowing  what  was  to  be  expected  of  the  other. 

The  King,  having  now  had  a  taste  of  Bacon's  disposi- 
tion and  abilities,  was  not  long  in  marking  his  apprecia- 
tion of  them.  On  the  18th  of  August,  1604,  he  granted 
him  by  patent  the  office  of  Learned  Counsel,  which  he 
had  hitherto  held  only  by  verbal  warrant :  and  at  the 
same  time  conferred  on  him  a  pension  for  life  of  £Q0. 
For  a  man  of  Bacon's  abilities  and  long  service,  it  was 
not  much  ;  but  it  was  a  beginning  ;  and  it  came  at  a  time 
when  he  had  a  very  good  opportunity  to  show  how  well 
it  was  deserved.  For  the  Commissioners  for  the  Union 
were  to  meet  in  October,  and  his  vacation's  work  was  to 
prepare  for  the  conference  by  taking  a  survey  of  all  the 
qucsticms  which  would  fall  under  consideratiou. 

The  fust  fiuit  of  these  studies  and  conferences  was  a 
concise  but  coin[)l('t(^  analysis  of  the  whoh;  subject,  drawn 
up  for  th(5  King's  iiifoi-iiiation  :  in  wliii-li  all  tlu^  particular 
questions  that  would  have;  to  be  dealt  with  —  (picstions 
whi<-'h  it  took  a  hundred  years  to  adjust — were  enumer- 
ated and  explained.  What  use  was  made  of  it  at  the 
time,  besides  submit  ting  it  to  the  King,  and  to  what  extent 
it  was  circulatr'd,  I    do  not  kiu»w. 

In  it  the  question  of  tlie  styh'  and  name,  which  it  had 
been  thought   ton   dangoron.s  to  alter  by   Act  of   I^irlia- 


1004.]     l'H(Jl'OSKU  PROCLAMATION  OF  THE  KINGS  STYLE.       465 

iiieut,  is  reeomnieiided  to  be  dealt  with  by  Proclamation  : 
and  it  is  not  impossible  that  a  draft  of  a  Proclamation 
for  that  purpose  accompanied  this  paper.  Such  a  draft 
Bacon  did  at  an}'^  rate  prepare,  and  a  proclamation  to 
this  effect  —  probably  founded  upon  it,  though  almost 
wholly  re-written  —  was  published  on  the  20th  of  Octo- 
ber, the  day  on  which  the  Commissioners  for  the  Union 
were  to  meet.  The  kingdoms  were  thenceforth  united  in 
the  King's  style  and  title,  without  any  contestation,  diffi- 
culty, or  inconvenience  :   and  so  remained. 

The  rest  of  the  work  was  not  so  easily  accomplished ; 
though  it  began  with  fairer  auspices  than  could  have  been 
looked  for.  A  council  of  forty-eight  Englishmen  and 
thirty-one  Scotchmen,  meeting  on  terms  of  perfect  equal- 
ity to  make  a  bargain,  —  a  bargain  involving  interests  so 
vast  and  so  various,  —  might  have  seemed  to  have  no  easy 
task  before  them  :  yet  in  less  than  six  weeks  they  had 
come  to  an  agreement  all  but  unanimous ;  and  the  work, 
so  far  as  it  depended  upon  them,  was  prosperously  con- 
cluded. 

The  reputation  which  Bacon  brought  with  him  from 
the  House  of  Commons,  as  the  man  in  whose  hands  any 
business  of  delicacy  or  difficulty  was  always  found  to 
prosper  best,  would  naturally  give  him  great  influence 
and  authority  in  the  Commission  ;  and  the  order  of  j^i'o- 
ceeding,  to  which  the  harmonious  progress  of  their  delib- 
erations was  probably  in  great  part  due,  was  probably  in 
great  part  due  to  him.  Twenty  years  after,  in  revising 
his  Essay  on  Counsel,  he  referred  to  this  Commission  as 
an  example  of  good  order.  "  The  counsels  at  this  day  in 
most  places "  (he  says)  "  are  but  familiar  meetings, 
ivhere  matters  are  I'ather  talked  on  than  debated.  And 
they  run  too  swift  to  the  order  or  act  of  counsel.  It  were 
better  that  in  causes  of  weight  the  matter  were  pro- 
pounded one  day,  and  not  spoken  to  till  the  next  day : 
Zn  node  consilium.     So  was  it  done  in  the  Commission 

VOL.  I.  30 


460    COMMISSIOXKKS  FOR  ENGLAND  AND  SCOTLAND.  [Book  IIL 

for  Union  between  England  and  Scotland  ;  which  was  a 
grave  and  orderly  assembly." 

The  charge  of  digesting  the  articles  of  the  resolutions 
into  their  ultimate  form  was  intrusted  (on  the  English 
side)  to  Bacon  ;  but  the  composition  of  the  preamble  or 
prefatory  introduction  was  undertaken  by  Cecil  in  con- 
junction with  Lord  Fivye.  It  appears,  however,  that 
Bacon  had  made  provision  for  this  part  of  the  work  also, 
had  it  been  wanted.  For  among  the  papers  left  by  him, 
and  by  himself  thought  worth  preserving,  is  a  draft  of 
precisely  such  a  preface  as  was  wanted  for  the  occasion  ; 
and  whatever  reasons  there  may  have  been  (personal  or 
other)  for  preferring  the  production  of  the  two  great 
officers  of  state,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  for  the  mod- 
ern purpose  of  throwing  light  uj^on  the  meaning  and  his- 
tory of  the  business.  Bacon's  is  much  to  be  preferred.  It 
is  indeed  a  page  of  history  ready  A^ritten,  and  makes  it 
unnecessary  to  offer  in  this  place  any  further  explanation 
of  the  results  of  the  Commissioners'  deliberations  ;  the 
disputed  pijints  in  which  will  not  fail  to  force  themselves 
upon  our  notice  at  a  later  time. 

This  w^as  first  printed  in  Stephens's  second  collection 
(1734),  from  a  copy  with  a  few  interlineations  in  Bacon's 
own  hand,  now  in  the  British  Museum  :  from  which  copy 
it  is  here  taken. 

THE  MOST  HUMBLE  CERTIFICATE  OR  KETUBN  OF  THE 
COMMISSIONERS  OF  ENGLAND  AND  SCOTLAND,  AU- 
THOlilZED  TO  TREAT  OF  AN  UNION  FOR  THE  "WEAL 
OF  BOTH  REALMS.  2  JAC.  I.  PREPARED,  BUT  AL- 
TERED.^ 

We,  the  commissioners  for  England  and  Scotland  re- 
spectively naniL'd  and  appointeil,  in  all  luinibleness  do 
signify  to  his   most  excellfnt    Miijcsty,   and   to  the   most 

1  Tlii'se  words  are  inserted  in  Hacon'a  hand.     In  the  ieft-liund  corner,  at  the 
lop,  is  written  in  the  same  hand,  "  prepared  not  used." 


1G04.]    PKKl-ACF.  TO  REPORT,  AS  PREPARED  BY  BACOX.    4G7 

honorable  liigb  Courts  of  Parliament  of  both  realms,  that 
we  have  assembled  ourselves,  consulted  and  treated  ac- 
cording to  the  nature  and  limits  of  our  commission  ;  and 
forasmuch  as  we  do  find  that  hardly  within  the  memory 
of  all  times,  or  within  the  compass  of  the  universal  world, 
there  can  be  showed  forth  a  fit  example  or  precedent  of 
the  work  we  have  in  hand,  concurring  in  all  points  ma- 
terial, we  thought  ourselves  so  much  the  more  bound 
to  resort  to  the  infallible  and  original  grounds  of  nature 
and  common  reason,  and  freeing  ourselves  from  the  lead- 
ing or  misleading  of  examples  to  insist  and  fix  our  con- 
siderations upon  the  individual  business  in  hand,  without 
wandering  or  discourses.  It  seemed  therefore  unto  as  a 
matter  demonstrative  by  the  light  of  reason,  that  we  were 
'in  first  place  to  begin  with  the  remotion  and  abolition  of 
all  manner  hostile,  envious,  or  malign  laws  on  either  side, 
being  in  themselves  mere  temporary,  and  now  by  time 
become  directly  contrary  to  our  present  most  happy  es- 
tate ;  which  laws,  as  they  are  already  dead  in  force  and 
vigor,  so  we  thought  fit  now  to  wish  them  buried  in  ob- 
livion ;  that  by  the  utter  extinguishment  of  the  memory 
of  discords  past,  we  ma}'  avoid  all  seeds  of  relapse  into 
discords  to  come.  Secondly,  as  matter  of  nature  not 
unlike  the  former,  we  entered  into  consideration  of  such 
limitary  constitutions  as  served  but  for  to  obtain  a  form 
of  justice  between  subjects  under  several  monarchs, 
and  did  in  the  very  grounds  and  motives  of  them  pre- 
suppose incursions  and  intermixture  of  hostility  ;  all 
which  occasions,  as  they  are  in  themselves  now  vanished 
and  done  away,  so  we  wish  the  abolition  and  cessation 
thereof  to  be  declared.^  Thirdly,  for  so  much  as  the 
principal  degree  to  union  is  communion  and  participation 
of  mutual  commodities  and  benefits,  it  appeared  to  us  to 
follow  next  in  order,  that  the  commerce  between  both 
nations  be  set  open  and  free,  so  as  the  commodities  and 

1  The  words  "  as  thev"  and  the  last  clause  are  inserted  in  Bacon's  hand. 


468  PHEFACK  TO  KKl'OKr.  AS  PREPARED  BY  BACON   [Book  IQ. 

provisions  of  either  may  pass  and  flow  to  and  fro  without 
any  stops  or  obstructions  into  the  veins  of  the  whole 
body,  for  the  better  sustentation  and  comfort  of  all  the 
parts;  with  caution,  nevertheless,  that  the  vital  nourish- 
ment be  not  so  drawn  into  one  part  as  it  may  endanger 
a  consumption  and  withering  of  the  other.  Fourthly, 
after  the  communion  and  participation  by  commerce, 
which  can  extend  but  to  the  transmission  of  such  com- 
modities as  are  movable,  personal,  and  transitory,  there 
succeeded  natui-ally  that  other  degree,  that  there  be  made 
a  mutual  endowment  and  donation  of  either  realm  to- 
wards other  of  the  abilities  and  capacities  to  take  and  en- 
joy things  wliich  are  permanent,  real,  and  fixed;  as  namely 
freehold  and  inheritance,  and  the  like ;  and  that  as  well 
the  internal  and  vital  veins  of  blood  be  opened  from  in- 
terruption and  obstruction  in  making  pedigree  and  claim- 
ing by  descent,  as  the  external  and  elemental  veins  of 
passage  and  commerce  ;  with  reservation  nevertheless 
unto  the  due  time  of  such  abilities  and  capacities  only, 
as  no  power  on  earth  can  confer  without  time  and  educa- 
tion. And  lastly,  because  the  perfection  of  this  blessed 
work  consisted  in  the  union,  not  only  of  the  solid  parts 
of  the  estate,  but  also  in  the  spirit  and  sinews  of  the  same, 
which  are  the  laws  and  governments,  which  nevertheless 
are  already  perfectly  united  in  the  head,  but  require  a 
furder  time  to  be  united  in  the  bulk  and  frame  of  the 
whole  body;  in  contemplation  hereof  we  did  conceive 
that  the  first  step  thereunto  was  to  providi'  that  the  jus- 
tice of  either  realm  should  aid  and  assist,  and  not  frus- 
trate and  interrupt,  the  justice  of  the  other,  specially  in 
sundry  cases  criminal;  so  that  cither  realm  may  not  be 
abtised  l)y  malefactors  as  a  sanctuary  or  place  of  refuge 
to  avoid  the  condign  punishment  of  their  crimes  and  of- 
fenses. All  wliifli  sev(^ral  points,  —  as  we  account  them, 
Bunim(!d  up  and  put  together,  but  as  a  degree  or  middle 
^erm  to  the  perfection  of  this  blessed  work,  —  so  yet  we 


1604.]        PREFACE  TO  REPORT,  AS  PREPARED  BY  BACOX.        469 

conceived  them  to  make  a  just  and  fit  period  for  our  pres- 
ent consultation  and  proceeding.  And  for  so  much  as 
concerneth  the  manner  of  our  proceedings,  we  may  trul}' 
make  this  attestation  unto  ourselves,  that  as  the  mark 
we  shot  at  was  union  and  unity,  so  it  pleased  God  in  the 
handling  thereof  to  bless  us  with  the  spirit  of  unity,  in- 
somuch as  from  our  first  sitting  unto  the  breaking  up  of 
our  assembly  (a  thing  most  rai-e,  the  circumstances  of  the 
cause  and  persons  considered)  there  did  not  happen  or 
intervene,  neither  in  our  debates  or  arguments,  any  man- 
ner altercation  or  sti'ife  of  words,  nor  in  our  resolutions 
any  variety  or  division  of  votes,  but  the  whole  passed  with 
an  unanimity  and  uniformity  of  consent ;  and  yet  so  as 
we  suppose  there  was  never  in  any  consultation  greater 
plainness  and  liberty  of  speech,  argument  and  debate, 
replying,  conti'adicting,  recalling  anything  spoken  where 
cause  was,  expounding  any  matter  ambiguous  or  mistaken, 
and  all  other  points  of  free  and  friendly  interlocution  and 
conference,  without  cavillations,  advantages,  or  overtak- 
ings :  ^  a  matter  that  we  cannot  ascribe  to  the  skill  or 
temper  of  our  own  carriage,  but  to  the  guiding  and  con- 
ducting of  God's  hoi}'  providence  and  will,  the  true  au- 
thor of  all  unity  and  agreement ;  neither  did  we,  where 
the  business  required,  rest  so  upon  our  own  senses  and 
opinions,  but  we  did  also  aid  and  assist  ourselves  as  well 
with  the  reverend  opinion  of  Judges  and  persons  of  great 
science  and  authority  in  the  laws,  and  also  with  the  wis- 
dom and  experience  of  merchants,  and  men  expert  in  com- 
merce. In  all  which  our  proceedings  notwithstanding,  we 
are  so  far  from  pretending  or  aiming  at  any  prejudication, 
either  of  his  royal  Majesty's  sovereign  and  high  wisdom, 
which  we  do  most  dutifully  acknowledge  to  be  able  to 
pierce  and  penetrate  far  beyond  the  reach  of  our  capaci- 

1  The  words  "  used,  permitted,  or  allowed  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  in  all  loving 
manner  called  for,  provoked,  wished,  and  required,"  which  followed  in  the 
MS.,  are  struck  out. 


470  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  CONSULTATIONS.         [Book  IIL 

ties,  or  of  the  tjolid  and  profound  judgment  of  the  high 
Courts  of  Parliament  of  both  reahns,  as  we  do  in  all  hum- 
bleness submit  our  judgments  and  doings  to  his  sacred 
Majesty  and  to  the  Parliaments,  protesting  our  sincerity, 
and  craving  gracious  and  benign  construction  and  accep- 
tation of  our  travails. 

We  therefore  with  one  mind  and  consent  have  agreed 
and  concluded  that  there  be  propounded  and  presented 
to  his  Majesty  and  the  Parliament  of  both  realms  these 
articles  and  propositions  following. 

If  this  introduction  had  been  adopted  it  would  have 
required  in  one  place,  and  I  suppose  in  one  place  only,  a 
slight  correction. 

The  "unanimity  and  uniformity  of  consent"  with  which 
all  the  resolutions  are  said  to  have  passed  must  of  course 
be  understood  as  referring  to  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
business :  not  that  there  were  no  differences  of  opinion 
among  the  Commissioners,  but  that  they  all  agreed  in 
what  was  ultimately  recommended  to  be  done.  And  such 
was  no  doubt  the  result  which  Bacon  anticipated  from 
the  tenor  of  the  deliberations.  The  anticipation  was  not, 
however,  destined  to  be  strictly  fuKilled.  One  of  the 
English  Commissioners,  Sir  Edward  Hoby,  —  for  some 
reason  which  he  declined  publicly  to  explain,  —  refused 
at  the  last  to  subscribe  his  name  to  the  Instrument.  'J'he 
solitary  exception,  however,  rather  ilhistrates  than  throws 
doubt  upon  the  substantial  accuracy  of  the  report:  which, 
after  all  due  correction  has  been  made,  i-emains  a  notable 
record  of  a  piece  of  business  very  effectually  and  prosper- 
ously clispatcht'd.  The  history  of  its  progress  through 
Parliament  will  be  a  vci'v  different  one,  but  belongs  to  a 
later  time.  I'mTiaiiit'ut  was  to  have  met  in  February, 
and  the  consideration  of  the  measures  recoiiiiueiided  by 
th(^  Commissioners  was  expected  to  be  its  principal  busi- 
ness.    Aj)prehensions  of  a  return  of  the  Phigue,  of  which 


iG04.]  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  CONSULTATIONS.  471 

some  premonitovy  symptoms  showed  themselves  in  many 
parts  of  the  country  before  Christmas,  induced  a  further 
prorogation  till  the  autumn :  at  which  time  the  Gunpow- 
der Plot  came  in  the  way  and  supplied  business  enough 
for  the  succeeding  session  :  so  that  it  was  not  till  the 
winter  of  1606  that  the  Instrument  of  the  Union  came 
under  consideration.  The  prorogation  till  autumn  left 
Bacon  with  the  best  part  of  a  year  comparatively  free 
from  business,  and  available  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
great  literarj'  work  which  I  suppose  him  to  have  been  so 
anxious  at  this  time  not  only  to  go  on  with,  but  to  bring 
before  the  world  as  soon  as  possible :  and  of  which  the 
progress  must  have  been  much  interrupted,  if  not  com- 
pletely suspended,  by  the  heavy  business  which  the  last 
Parliament  threw  upon  him.  For  the  next  ten  months 
we  have  very  little  news  of  him.  What  there  is  shall 
begin  a  new  chapter. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A.  D.  1605-1607.    .ETAT.  45-46. 

The  importance  of  the  part  which  had  fallen  to  Bacon 
in  the  business  of  the  last  session,  and  that  not  through 
oflBcial  patronage  or  private  favor,  but  merely  from  ex- 
perience of  his  ability  and  the  necessities  of  the  time  call- 
ing for  help, — followed  as  it  was  by  such  happy  success 
in  his  latest  service,  —  might  have  seemed  to  promise  a 
speedy  rise  in  his  fortunes,  had  no  opportunity  occurred 
of  making  the  promise  good.  But  it  so  happened  that  on 
the  28th  of  October,  1604  (the  day  after  the  first  meeting 
of  the  Commissioners  for  the  Union),  the  Solicitor  Gen- 
eral was  made  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  thereby 
vacating  the  very  place  to  which  a  man  in  iJacon's  posi- 
tion would  naturally  and  reasonably  aspire.  It  was  given, 
however,  on  the  same  day  to  Sergeant  Doderidge  ;  a  law- 
yer of  good  reputation,  but  no  further  conspicuous  than 
as  holding  tlm  ollice  of  Sergeant  to  the  Prince  of  Wales. 
And  the  neglect  of  so  fair  an  opi)ortuuity  to  raise  Bacon 
looked  almost  like  an  intention  to  leave  liim  below.  I  do 
not  find  traces,  however,  either  of  any  ai>plication  from 
him  at  th(!  time  for  the;  ])lace,  or  any  complaint  of  having 
been  j)asse(l  over.'  And  tli(^  liuth  peiha[)s  is  that  (as  he 
]i;id    rornieijv  said    that  "  he,   could    not   expect   that  Coke 

1  Unless  tilt'  foilowiii;;  i'.\])i-<'ssii)ii,  in  a  li-tter  to  llic  Lord  (Jlianceilor  two  years 
after,  1)1!  taken  to  ineliidt!  an  allusion  to  tiiis  appointment:  "Otherwise  for  mine 
Dwn  private  comfort  it  were  luster  tiiat  ....  I  should  turn  my  course  to  en- 
deavor to  serve  in  8omu  other  kind,  liian  for  mu  to  stand  thus  at  a  stop;  and  to 
have  tiiat  little  reputation  wiiicli  by  my  industry  I  (;allier  to  be  scattered  and 
takeu  away  by  continual  disj^racps,  r.vcri/  new  man  comimj  above  me." 


1605-1607.]  ADVANCEMENT   OF   LEARNING.  473 

and  himself  vsbould  ever  serve  as  Attorney  and  Solicitor 
together "  i)  he  really  felt  the  relation  which  subsisted, 
between  tliem  to  be  a  valid  objection  to  his  appointment, 
and  Avould  not  himself  have  asked  for  or  recommended  it. 

However  that  may  be,  the  experience  of  the  past  year 
proved  that,  whether  the  King  or  Cecil  or  Coke  wanted 
his  help  or  not,  his  country  had  work  for  hiui  to  do;  and 
that  he  must  not  reckon  upon  having  his  time  to  himself, 
but,  if  he  meant  to  reform  philosophy,  must  make  the 
most  of  all  intervals  of  leisure.  The  present  interval  — 
the  longest  and  least  interrupted  which  he  was  destined 
to  enjoy  for  many  years  —  came  very  seasonably  to  enable 
him  to  finish  the  "  Advancement  of  Learning  :  "  which 
with  due  allowance  made  for  time  consumed  in  the  duties 
of  courtship  and  the  other  business  which  a  treaty  of  mar- 
riasre  with  an  alderman's  dauMiter  would  naturallv  in- 
volve,  supplied  work  enough  for  nine  or  ten  months. 

The  "  two  books  of  the  Proficience  and  Advancement 
of  Learning,  divine  and  human,"  were  published  in  a  sin- 
gle volume.  But  an  examination  of  the  signatures  of  the 
sheets  shows  that  the  first  book  must  have  been  printed 
off  before  the  second  was  sent  to  the  press :  from  which 
I  infer  that  some  considerable  interval  occurred  in  the 
composition  of  them.  And  it  seems  very  probable,  as  I 
have  already  intimated,  that  the  first  book,  which,  though 
less  important  in  its  argument  than  the  other,  is  very  full 
and  elaborate  in  composition,  was  wi'itteu  in  1603,  when 
he  expected  an  abundance  of  leisure  for  such  work ;  and 
that  tlie  second,  which  has  many  marks  of  haste  both  in 
the  writing  and  the  printing,  and  is  in  several  parts  pro- 
fessedly unfinished,  was  hurried  through  in  1605  ;  when 
he  foresaw  that  his  times  of  leisure  were  not  likeh'  to 
come  often  or  last  long.  I  speak  of  course  only  of  the 
composition,  —  the  arrangement  of  the  matter,  the  word- 
ing, and  the  putting  into  shape,  —  for  the  matter  itself 

1  See  above,  p.  365. 


474  GUNPOWDER  PLOT.  [Book  III. 

was  the  accumulation  of  his  life,  and  many  portions  of  it 
had  been  already  digested,  no  doubt,  in  notes  and  essays. 

The  appearance  of  such  a  book  b}^  such  a  man  was  not 
likely  in  those  days  to  make  so  much  talk  in  the  world  as 
it  would  now ;  though  the  publication  of  "  Sir  F.  Bacon's 
new  book  on  Learning '"  was  not  forgotten  by  Chamber- 
lain in  reporting  to  Carleton  the  news  of  London  on  the 
7th  of  November,  1605.  But  its  appearance  happened 
to  coincide  with  an  event  which  at  any  time  would  have 
drawn  public  attention  away  from  everything  else. 

Li  sending  a  copy  to  Toby  Matthew,  who  had  left 
England  about  the  end  of  April,  and  was  now  in  Italy, 
Bacon  inclosed  a  "  relation,"  whicli  was  apparently  a 
short  account  drawn  up  by  himself  of  the  discovery  of  the 
Gunpowder  Plot.  But  as  I  have  not  been  able  to  find 
any  paper  answering  the  description,  and  Bacon  does  not 
appear  to  have  had  any  part  in  either  the  investigation 
of  the  conspiracy  or  the  trials  of  the  conspirators,  and  as 
the  general  history  of  it  is  sufficiently  notorious,  it  will 
not  be  necessary  for  me  to  go  further  into  the  particu- 
lars. 

The  letter  which  inclosed  the  lost  "  relation "  comes 
from  Matthew's  collection,  and  has  the  following  head- 
ing :  "  Mr.  Bacon  to  a  friend  and  servant  of  his;  by  way 
of  advertisement  concerning  some  books  and  writings  of 
his  own."  It  has  no  date,  and  the  title  "  Mr."  would 
suggest  a  wrong  one.  But  the  matters  alluded  to  prove 
that  to  be  an  error,  and  point  clearly  enough  to  the  early 
part  of  November,  1G05,  as  the  time  when  it  must  have 
been  written.  And  I  suppose  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  the  "friend  and  servant  "  was  Matthew  himself. 

TO   Mil.  MATTHEW. 

Sir, — I  perceiv(j  you  have  some  time  when  you  can 
he  content  to  think  of  your  friends  ;  from  whom  since 
you  have  borrowed  yourself,  yon  do  wi-ll,  not  paying  the 


1605-1607.]  DR.  LAUNCELOT  ANDREWES.  475 

principal,  to  send  the  interest  at  six  months  day.  The 
relation  which  here  I  send  you  inclosed  carries  the  truth 
of  that  which  is  public ;  and  though  my  little  leisure 
might  have  required  a  briefer,  yet  the  matter  would  have 
endured  and  asked  a  larger. 

I  have  now  at  last  taught  that  child  to  go,  at  the 
swaddling  whereof  you  were.  JNIy  work  touching  the 
Proficiency  and  Advancement  of  Learning  I  have  put 
into  two  books ;  whereof  the  former,  which  you  saw,  I 
count  but  as  a  Page  to  the  latter.  I  have  now  published 
them  both  ;  whereof  I  thought  it  a  small  adventure  to 
send  you  a  copy,  who  have  more  right  to  it  than  any 
man,  except  Bishop  Andrews,  who  was  my  inquisitor. 

The  death  of  the  late  great  Judge  concerned  not  me, 
because  the  other  was  not  removed.  I  write  this  in  an- 
swer to  your  good  wishes  ;  which  I  return  not  as  flowers 
of  Florence,  but  as  you  mean  them  ;  whom  I  conceive 
place  cannot  alter,  no  more  than  time  shall  me,  except  it 
be  to  the  better. 

Dr.  Launcelot  Andrewes,  who  had  been  Dean  of  West- 
minster since  4th  Juh^  1601,  was  made  Bishop  of  Chich- 
ester on  the  3d  of  November,  1605.  He  was  a  friend  of 
Bacon's  student-days,  being  then  preacher  at  St.  Giles's; 
and  a  man  whom  throughout  his  life  he  held  in  special 
reverence.  The  nature  of  the  inquisitorial  office  which 
he  performed  for  the  "  Advancement  of  Learning  "  may 
be  partly  inferred  from  a  letter  of  later  date  asking  him 
to  perform  a  similar  office  for  the  "  Cogitata  et  Visa." 
"  Now  let  me  tell  you  "  (Bacon  writes)  "  what  my  desire 
is :  If  your  Lordship  be  so  good  now  as  when  you  were 
the  good  Dean  of  Westminster,  my  request  to  you  is  that 
not  by  pricks,  but  by  notes,  you  would  mark  unto  me 
whatsoever  shall  seem  unto  you  either  not  current  in 
the  stile,  or  harsh  to  credit  or  opinion,  or  inconvenient 
for  the  person  of  the  writer;  for  no  man  can   be  judge 


i76  MEETING  OF  PARLIAMENT.  [Book  III, 

and  party  ;  and  when  our  minds  judge  by  reflexion  on 
ourselves  they  are  more  subject  to  error.  And  though 
for  the  matter  itself,  my  judgment  be  in  some  things 
fixed,  and  not  accessible  by  any  man's  judgment  that 
goeth  not  my  way,  yet  even  in  those  things  the  admoni- 
tion of  a  friend  may  make  me  express  myself  diversely." 
He  had  consulted  him,  no  doubt,  upon  the  "  Advancement 
of  Learning  "  in  the  same  way,  when  he  was  "  the  good 
Dean  of  Westminster ;  "  and  sent  him  a  presentation- 
copy  shortly  after  lie  became  Bishop  of  Chichester. 

The  light  allusion  to  the  "  death  of  the  late  great 
Judge"  as  not  concerninf;  him  because  "  the  other"  was 
not  removed  (in  which  I  strongly  suspect  that  the  names 
have  been  suppressed  by  the  editor)  covers  a  fact  which 
did  really  concern  Bacon  a  good  deal.  In  August,  1G05, 
Sir  Edmund  Anderson,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  died.  It  was  another  opportunity  for  advancing 
Bacon,  had  the  authorities  wished  to  do  it.  If  Coke  had 
been  promoted  to  the  Common  Pleas,  and  Doderidge 
succeeded  him  as  Attorney,  Bacon  might  have  been  made 
Solicitor.  But  Coke  kept  his  phice  ;  Sir  Francis  Gawdy, 
one  of  the  puisne  Judges  of  King's  Bench,  succeeded 
Anderson  ;  and  Bacon  remained  where  he  was.  In  this 
case,  as  in  the  last,  we  hear  of  no  application  and  no  com- 
plaint ;  but  unless  there  was  some  better  reason  against 
the  arrangement  than  we  know  of,  he  could  not  but  feel 
it  us  a  discouragement. 

l*arliani(Mit  met  on  the  5th  of  November,  according  to 
tlie  summons.  The  Commons,  having  read  a  few  bills, 
and  talked  a  little  about  the  great  deliverance,  adjourned 
till  the  Dth,  when  they  heard  the  King's  account  of  the 
discovery  of  the  plot,  and  were  again  adjourned  to  the 
21st  of  January.  Meditation  upon  the  danger  wliich 
the  kingdom  had  ho  nariowly  escaped  had  put  them  into 
a  liuiiior  {)i  grrat  severity  ;ig;iinst  tlic   i'apists,  and  warm 


1605-1(507.]  ri;0('i:KDIXGS   OF   PARLIAMENT.  477 

personal  affootion  for  the  King ;  and  though  the  griev- 
ances which  had  been  left  unsettled  in  the  last  session 
were  still  to  be  dealt  with,  and  not  even  allowed  to  sleep 
through  this,  they  felt  the  danger  of  urging  them  so  as 
to  risk  a  rupture.  Measures  for  security  and  for  demon- 
stration of  internal  harmony  took  precedence,  leaving  the 
questions  upon  which  the  two  Houses  could  not  agree  in 
!-uch  a  position  that  they  could  be  postponed  without  ob- 
structing the  general  business  of  government.  An  Act 
for  public  thanksgiving  every  year  on  the  5th  of  Novem- 
ber passed  at  once  and  unanimously.  A  very  unconstitu- 
tional motion  for  making  a  special  retrospective  law  for 
the  trial  and  punishment  of  the  "  miners  "  was  opposed 
by  the  new  Solicitor  General,  now  the  principal  repre- 
sentative of  the  Government  in  the  Lower  House,  and 
negatived  by  the  good  sense  of  the  majority.  Measures 
"for  the  timely  and  severe  proceeding  against  Jesuits, 
Seminaries,  and  other  Popish  Agents  and  Practicers,  and 
for  the  preventing  and  suppressing  of  their  plots  and  prac- 
tices," —  which  was  their  first  care,  —  took  more  time, 
and  led  to  many  conferences,  but  met  with  no  opposi- 
tion. The  appointment  of  a  committee  "  to  consider  of 
the  fittest  course  to  provide  for  the  general  planting  of  a 
Learned  Ministry,  and  for  the  meeting  with  non-resi- 
dence in  ministers  already  placed,"  passed  without  re- 
monstrance. Upon  the  question  of  Purveyance,  in  which 
a  smooth  passage  could  hardly  be  hoped  for,  they  re- 
solved to  proceed  not  by  conference  or  petition,  but  by 
bill:  a  course  which  had  the  effect  of  postponing  the 
critical  period  of  the  discussion  ;  while,  at  the  same  time; 
they  showed  no  dispositioii  to  keep  back  the  question  of 
supply,  and  make  it  wait  upon  the  question  of  Griev- 
ances (though  they  intended  that  the  two  should  go  on 
together)  ;  but  as  early  as  the  10th  of  February  agreed 
to  grant  a  double  subsidy  —  with  the  full  assent  of  all 
the  independent  members  who  spoke,  and  without  any 


iT8  TEMPER   or    PARLIAMENT.  [Bdok  III. 

dispute,  except  upon  the  question  (if  I  understand  it  cor- 
rectly) whether  the  proposal  should  be  referred  to  a 
committee  in  the  regular  way,  or  passed  at  once.  "  The 
Commons  of  the  Lower  House,"  writes  the  Earl  of 
Shrewsbury,  on  the  12th,  "  are  much  more  temperate 
than  they  were  at  the  first  session  ;  and  now  spend  all 
their  spirits  and  endeavors  in  devising  laws  tending  to 
his  Majesty's  safety,  and  suppressing  of  the  dangerous 
members  of  the  state.  I  heard  not  any  one  transcendant 
speech  uttered  there  as  yet."  It  seemed,  therefore,  that 
the  attempt  to  overthrow  Protestantism  had  only  issued 
in  a  suspension  of  those  disputes  and  jealousies  between 
the  Commons  and  the  Crown  in  which  its  chief  weak- 
ness and  danger  lay. 

Bacon,  though  his  name  appears  as  usupJ  in  all  the 
principal  committees,  and  though  he  was  occasionally 
employed  to  bring  up  a  report  or  assist  in  managing  a 
conference,  does  not  appear  to  have  taken  a  prominent 
part  in  the  proceedings  during  this  session.  The  Solic- 
itor, the  Recorder,  the  Attorney  of  the  Wards,  and  the 
second  Secretary  of  State,  were  all  of  the  House  ;  and  in 
ordinary  circumstances  the  leading  part  would  naturally 
fall  to  one  or  other  of  them.  Nor  did  any  dilliculties 
arise,  important  enough  to  induce  a  departure  from  the 
ordinary  course.  In  the  matter  of  Papists  and  recusants, 
the  Z(!al  of  all  })arties  on  the  side  of  severity  needed  no 
enforcing,  and  a  voice  in  favor  of  gentler  measures  would 
not  easily  iiave  obtained  a  hearing.  In  granting  lib- 
eral supplies  without  standing  upon  terms  of  bargain, 
the  principal  popular  nioinbt-rs  concurred  with  the  major- 
ity ;  and  th(5  few  nnirniurs  of  dissent  which  were  heard 
during  the  heat  o{  the  later  debates  might  be  safely  left 
to  be  answered  by  I  lie  gcncial  vote  on  the  (piestion  ;  and 
would  be  dispo.sed  of  in  that  way  more  etl'ectually  than 
by  argument.  The  tpiestion  of  the  Union  of  the  King- 
doni.s  was   postponi^d    l)y   common    consent   lo    the   next 


1605-IG07.1  PASSAGE  OF  THE  SUBSIDY    BILL.  479 

session.  With  regard  to  grievances  in  general,  Bacon 
approved  of  the  course  which  the  House  was  pursuing  : 
which  was,  first  to  hear  the  counsel  of  parties  interested, 
and  then  to  proceed  by  way  of  petition  to  the  King.  And 
if  in  the  particular  grievance  of  Purveyance  —  which  was 
to  be  dealt  with  by  a  Bill  and  was  in  hot  hands  —  there 
was  danger  of  their  going  faster  and  farther  than  seemed 
prudent,  a  sufficient  remedy  would  be  found  in  the  ob- 
structive power  of  the  Upper  House,  which  encountered 
the  shock,  and  could  count  on  the  help  of  Sir  Edward 
Coke  in  criticising  the  legal  bearings  of  the  law  they  pro- 
posed to  pass. 

Of  the  part  which  he  did  take,  something  may  be 
learned  from  a  careful  study  of  the  notes  in  the  Com- 
mons' Journals  (though  they  are  rather  more  fragment- 
ary than  usual)  ;  but  it  would  not  be  possible  to  present 
it  in  a  narrative  at  once  simple  and  intelligible  ;  nor 
would  such  a  narrative  throw  any  additional  light  on  his 
character  or  opinions.  He  was  not  called  upon  either  to 
support  or  to  prevent  any  questionable  transaction  ;  and 
the  general  result  of  the  session  must  have  been  satis- 
factory to  him  ;  for  the  prevalent  feeling  of  the  House 
towards  the  King  was  one  of  affectionate  loyalty,  and 
though  they  were  careful  to  keep  the  Subsidy  Bill  in 
their  own  hands  until  they  had  presented  the  petition  of 
Grievances,  yet  immediately  upon  hearing  from  Bacon 
(who  had  been  appointed  to  "read  them  to  the  King") 
a  report  of  his  answer,  which  appears  to  have  been  in 
efl^ect  only  an  assurance  that  their  complaints  should  be 
favorably  considered  and  attended  to,  they  sent  it  up 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  being  a  grant  of  three  subsitlies 
and  six  fifteenths  and  tenths,  —  the  largest,  I  believe,  that 
had  ever  been  voted  in  one  session  in  a  time  of  peace,  — 
in  a  manner  whicli  implied,  and  was  probably  meant  to 
demonstrate,  the  reverse  of  dissatisfaction.  "  The  Bill 
of  Subsidy  of  the  Temporalty,"   says  the  Journal  of  the 


480  KUMOR  OF   PROMOTIONS   IN   THE  LAW.  [Book  III. 

15th  Ma}^  1606,  "  sent  up  by  Mr.  Secretary  Herbert, 
with  the  -whole  House  attending  him,  not  one  man  left 
but  Speaker,  Clerk,  Sergeant.     Never  seen  before." 

In  a  letter  to  Salisbury,  written  apparently  the  27th 
of  March,  1606,  Bacon  saj's,  "  I  cannot  as  I  would  express 
how  much  I  think  mj'self  bounden  to  your  Lordship  for 
your  tenderness  over  my  contentment."  It  would  seem, 
therefore,  that  at  that  time  Salisbury  had  been  showing 
some  interest  in  Bacon's  fortunes.  And  tliough  we  do 
not  know  precisely  either  what  he  had  promised,  or  how 
much  his  promises  meant,  there  is  reason  to  beHeve  that 
he  had  favoi'ed  a  proposed  arrangement  by  which  Bacon 
might  have  been  advanced  at  last  to  the  Solicitorship. 
Sir  Henry  Neville,  writing  to  Winwood  on  the  11th  of 
March  in  that  year,  says,  "  We  are  in  some  expectation 
of  a  creation  of  four  Barons  :  viz.  the  Lord  Chief  Justice, 
Mr.  Attorney,  w/io  is  designed  Chief  Justice  in  Gaudie's 
room.  Sir  John  Fortescue,  and  Sir  Thomas  Knevett,"  etc. 
The  words  which  I  have  printed  in  italic  are  conclusive 
of  the  fact  that  a  rumor  to  that  effect  was  in  circulation 
at  that  time  ;  and  as  the  same  rumor  is  distinctly  al- 
luded to  in  the  following  letter,  we  need  not  hesitate  to 
dat<^  it  within  a  few  days  before  or  after  the  11th  of 
March  ;  nor  is  there  much  room  for  doubt  that  Salis- 
bury's demonstration  of  "  tenderness  over  Bacon's  con- 
tentment "  was  subsequent  to  and  consequent  upon  this 
letter.  For  if  anything  of  the  kind  had  passed  between 
thrm  befoi'c,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  avoid  some 
refcrcncii  to  it  on  such  an  oceasion. 

This  letter  was  first  printed  in  the  "  Remains"  (1648) 
with  this  he:iding:  "A  Letter  to  the  Karl  of  Salisbury 
touching  the  Scilicitor's  plaee,  at  what  time  he  stood  but 
in  doiilitfu!  terms  of  favor  with  his  Lordship."'  Al- 
tlioiigh  not  to  be  found  in  the  "  llcsuscitatio,"  it  apjjears 
to  have  been  contained  in  liacon's  own  c(»llection,  and  is 
here  taken   from  the  copy  in  tlu^  British   Mus(Mini,  which 


1C05-1607.]         RUMOR  OF  TROMOTIONS  IN   THE  LAW.  481 

differs  from  the  other  in  one  or  two  places,  and  is  evi- 
dently more  correct. 

TO  THE  EAEL  OF  SALISBURY. 

It  may  please  your  Lordship, — I  am  not  privy  to 
myself  of  any  such  ill  deserving  towards  your  Lordship, 
as  that  I  should  think  it  an  impudent  thing  to  be  suitor 
for  your  favor  in  a  reasonable  matter,  your  Lordship  be- 
ing to  me  as  (with  your  good  favor)  you  cannot  cease 
to  be,  but  rather  it  were  a  simple  and  arrogant  part  in 
me  to  forbear  it.  It  is  thought  Mr.  Attorney  shall  be 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas.  In  case  Mr.  Solici- 
tor rise,  I  would  be  glad  now  at  last  to  be  Solicitor, 
chiefly  because  I  think  it  will  increase  my  practice, 
wherein  God  blessing  me  a  few  years,  I  may  amend  my 
state,  and  so  after  fall  to  my  studies  and  ease,  whereof 
one  is  requisite  for  my  body,  and  the  other  sorteth  with 
my  mind.  Herein  if  I  may  find  your  Lordship's  favor,  I 
shall  be  more  happy  than  I  have  been,  which  may  make 
me  also  more  wise.  I  have  small  store  of  means  about 
the  King,  and  to  sue  myself  is  not  so  fit.  And  therefore 
I  shall  leave  it  to  God,  his  Majesty,  and  your  Lordship. 
For  if  I  must  still  be  next  the  door,  I  thank  God  in 
these  transitory  things  I  am  well  i-esolved.  So  beseech- 
ing your  Lordship  not  to  think  this  letter  the  less  humble, 
because  it  is  plain,  I  remain. 

At  your  Lps.  service  very  humbly, 

Fr.  Bacon, 

The  week  before  and  the  fortnight  after  the  11th  of 
Mai'ch  was  a  period  of  some  anxiety  for  the  Government 
—  the  Lower  House  having  been  engaged  all  the  time  in 
warm  debates,  first,  on  the  Purveyance  Bill  and  after- 
wards on  the  question  of  a  third  subsidy,  —  the  report  of 
the  Committee  on  tlie  other  two  subsidies  not  having 
yet   been    brought    in,  —  and   tlie    collection    of   general 

VOL.    T.  31 


482  RUMOR  OF  PROMOTIONS  IN  THE  LAW.  [Book  IIL 

Grievances  being  diligently  proceeded  with  meanwhile. 
It  was  a  time  in  which  Bacon's  help  in  the  House,  where 
the  representatives  of  the  Government  were  not  other- 
wise strong,  could  not  be  conveniently  dispensed  with. 
And  though  I  do  not  find  that  any  of  his  former  disap- 
pointments and  discouragements  had  on  any  occasion 
either  altered  his  course  or  slackened  his  industrj^  it  was 
not  a  time  when  Salisbury  would  have  thought  it  prudent 
to  neglect  him,  or  hesitated  to  hazard  words  of  promise. 
Nor  have  I  any  reason  to  doubt  in  this  case  the  sincerity 
of  his  professions.  The  position  in  which  a  man  like 
Bacon  was  still  left,  at  the  age  of  forty-six,  while  liis 
.  cousin  (though  always  friendly  "  secundum  exterius  ") 
had  been  in  a  position  of  such  high  influence  for  seven  or 
eight  years,  makes  it  hard  to  believe  that  he  had  been 
really  anxious  to  advance  him  in  the  service  of  the  Crown. 
But  the  fact  that  on  this  occasion  nothing  followed  the 
promises  of  favor,  which  (it  seems)  were  his  auswer  to 
the  foregoing  letti-r,  may  be  sufficiently  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  the  arrangement  talked  of  was  not  carried 
into  effect ;  and  we  do  not  know  where  or  with  whom 
the  obstruction  lay.  All  we  know  is  that  Gawd}^  Coke, 
and  Doderidge  all  kept  their  places,  and  Bacon  still  re- 
mained "  next  the  door." 

In  his  private  affairs,  however,  Salisbury  had  not  been 
wanting  (as  we  have  already  seen  ^)  in  giving  Bacon 
substantial  help  ;  and  we  know  on  Bacon's  own  authority 
that  he  liad  done  something  for  him,  —  though  we  are 
not  told  exactly  what  it  was,  —  in  furtherance  of  an  im- 
portant domestic  enterprise  which  was  successfully  ac- 
com{>lish<'d  in  the  middle  of  this  very  session. 

Marriages  in   those  days  were  treated  more  openly  as 
matters   of  i)usiness   than   they  are   now.     Fathers   pro- 
posed to  fathers  ;  and  when  the  father  was  dead,  great 
men  were  called  in  to  countenance  and  recommend   the 
1  See  p.  416. 


1605-1607.]  BACON'S  MARRIAGE.  483 

suitor.  It  is  true  that  in  the  Order  of  the  Helmet,  in- 
stituted by  the  Prince  of  Purpoole  in  1594,^  this  practioe 
was  strictly  forbidden.  '■'■Item.  No  Knight  of  this  Or- 
der shall  procure  any  letters  from  his  Highness  to  auy 
widow  or  maid,  for  his  enablement  or  commendation  to 
be  advanced  in  marriage  ;  but  all  prerogative,  wooing  set 
apart,  shall  for  ever  cease  as  to  any  of  these  Knights,  and 
shall  be  left  to  the  common  laws  of  this  land,  declared 
b}'  the  Statute,  Quia  electiones  liherce  esse  debent.'^  But 
in  a  satire  on  the  fashions  of  the  time,  the  prohibition  of 
a  practice  is  proof  of  its  prevalence.  What  obstructions 
Bacon  met  with  on  his  way  to  matrimony,  we  do  not 
know.  But  they  would  probably  be  such  as  a  man  who 
had  the  key  of  so  many  good  places  as  Salisbury  had, 
might  well  help  to  smooth. 

The  lady  was  no  doubt  the  same  to  whom  he  had  al- 
luded in  1603,  —  "  an  alderman's  daughter,"'  "  an  hand- 
some maiden,"  and  "  to  his  liking."  Alderman  Barn- 
ham,  her  father,  had  been  dead  for  fifteen  years  or  more. 
Her  mother,  b}^  a  second  marriage,  had  been  Lady  Pack- 
ington  since  November,  1598,  a  "■  little  violent  lady," 
according  to  Chamberlain.  Slie  herself  was  co-heir  to 
her  father  with  three  sisters  ;  and  her  name  was  Alice  ; 
which  is  nearly  all  we  know  about  her ;  unless  a  remark 
referrinfj  to  a  much  later  time,  and  recorded  more  than 
twenty  years  after,  be  thought  to  imply  that  which  if 
true  in  1620  must  have  been  true  also  in  1606,  namely, 
that  she  inherited  some  portion  of  her  mother's  weakness 
in  the  government  of  the  unruly  member.  "  One  asked  " 
(writes  Dr.  Rawley  in  his  commonplace  book)  "  how  my 
La.  Darby  came  to  make  so  good  use  of  her  time  whilst 
her  husband  2  was  Chancellor,  and  my  La.  St.  Alban's 
made  so  little.  The  other  answered,  because  my  La. 
Darby's  wit  lay  backward,  and  my  La.  St.  Alban's  lay 
forward  :  viz.  in  her  tongue." 

1  See  p.  142.  2  Lord  Ellesmere. 


484  BACON'S   MARRIAGE.  [Book  III. 

The  date  of  Bacon's  marriage  was  not  known,  nor  was 
there  anything  to  be  found  in  any  printed  book  (so  far 
as  I  am  aware)  by  which  it  could  be  fixed  within  less 
than  a  year,  until  the  appearance  of  Mrs.  Everett  Green's 
Calendar  of  State  Papers ;  from  which  it  appeared  that 
there  was  a  letter  there  from  Dudley  Carle  ton  to  John 
Chamberlain,  mentioning  the  marriage  as  fresh  news  on 
the  llth  of  May,  160G.  It  had  in  fact  taken  place  the 
day  before,  and  in  a  very  busy  time  ;  the  Lower  House 
having  just  passed  the  Subsidy''  Bill,  and  being  that  very 
day  engaged  in  passing  the  second  Purveyance  Act  and 
in  arranging  a  fresh  conference  with  the  Lords  about  the 
Recusants.  As  we  know  no  particulars  from  any  other 
source  (for  I  do  not  gather  from  Mr.  Dixon's  story  that 
he  had  an}^  independent  information),  Carleton  shall  give 
the  news  in  his  own  words  :  — 

"  Sir  Francis  Bacon  was  married  yesterday  to  his  young 
wench  in  Maribone  Chapel.  He  was  clad  from  top  to  toe  in 
purple,  and  hath  made  himself  and  his  wife  such  store  of  fine 
raiments  of  cloth  of  silver  and  gold  that  it  draws  deep  into  her 
portion.  The  dinner  was  kept  at  his  father-indaw  Sir  John 
Packington's  lodging  over  against  the  Savoy,  where  his  chief 
guests  were  the  three  knights,  Cope,  Ilicks,^  and  Beeston;  and 
upon  this  conceit  (as  he  said  himself)  that  since  he  could  not 
have  my  L.  of  Salisbury  in  person,  which  he  wished,  he  would 
have  him  at  least  in  his  representative  body." 

When  the  domestic  relations  of  a  man  so  conspicuous 
as  Bacon  attract  no  notice,  it  may  be  inferred  that  they 
are  ))eac('abh^  and  quiet  ;  and  twent}'^  years  of  married 
life  in  wjiicii  IIk^  gossips  and  scandal-mongers  of  tlie  time 

•  Sir  Micliuul,  no  doubt;  whom  we  know:  one  of  Salisbury's  secretaries:  not 
Sir  I^llIlli^t,  as  Mr.  Dixon  calls  him.  Sir  Walter  Cope  and  Sir  Hugh  Beeston 
had  also  licen  ioiif^  in  the  confidential  employment  of  Salisbury.  (See  Cham- 
berlain's li'ltiTS  (Canid.  Soc. ),  p-  151.)  All  three  were  Members  of  Parliament, 
[t  is  .ocarcfly  worth  while  to  inquire  on  what  ground  Mr.  iJixon  describes  them 
as  "  liiird  drinkers  and  men  aliouf  town."  It  is  probably  a  mere  development 
nf  the  fact  that  he  knew  them  to  have  been  once  the  chief  guests  at  a  wedding 
diuner,  itnd  knew  no  mor''. 


1605-1607.]  COKE  MADE  A  JUDGE.  485 

found  iiotliing  to  talk  about  have  a  right  to  remain  exempt 
from  intrusion.  In  outward  circumstances  it  appears  to 
have  been  a  very  suitable  match  :  the  wife's  fortune  be- 
ing a  little  less  than  the  annual  value  of  the  husband's 
inherited  estate,  and  her  social  rank  a  little  lovrer,  but 
not  much.  Taking  his  position  and  prospects  into  ac- 
count, it  was  certainly  a  good  match  for  her,  nor  was  it 
a  bad  one  for  him.  And  I  do  not  know  why  it  should 
not  be  allowed  to  pass  with  as  little  remark  now  as  it  did 
then,  or  as  any  similar  match  would  do  in  the  present 
day. 

No  change  was  made  among  the  Law  Officers  during 
the  session  of  Parliament.  But  shortly  after  the  proro- 
gation. Sir  Francis  Gawdy  died  ;  and  on  the  29th  of  June 
Coke  succeeded  him  as  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  —  thenceforward  to  be  no  longer  the  champion  of 
Prerogative  in  its  encounters  with  Parliaments  and 
Judges,  but  the  champion  of  the  Bench  in  its  encounters 
with  Prerogative  and  Privilege. 

A  new  Attorney  General  had  now  to  be  chosen.  The 
right  of  the  Solicitor  General  to  the  refusal  of  the  office 
was  not  yet  established  by  custom.  Since  1461,  of  twen- 
ty-three Solicitors  only  nine  had  become  Attorneys.  And 
though  it  is  true  that  three  cases  in  succession  had  oc- 
curred in  the  last  years  of  Elizabeth ;  and  Fleming  might 
possibly  have  nuide  a  fourth,  had  he  not  been  removed 
by  promotion  before  a  vacancy  occurred;  yet  the  long 
delays  and  disputes  in  the  appointment  of  Coke  himself 
(who  was  the  last  of  the  three),  are  a  sufficient  proof 
that  the  custom  was  not  then  settled.  It  did  not  follow 
therefore  that  "Mr.  Solicitor  would  rise  ;  "  and  if  he  did 
not  (since  he  still,  I  believe,  held  his  office  quamdiu  se 
hene  gesserW),  he  could  not  be  compelled  to  vacate  it 
And  here  it  must  be  owned  that  the  sincerity  of  Salis- 
bury's professed  desire  to  raise  Bacon  falls  under  just 
suspicion.     At  any  rate  there  was  another  man  in  whose 


486  HOBART  ATTORNEY.  [Book  III. 

behalf  the  same  desire  %yorked  more  effectually.  When 
the  Attorney  of  the  Court  of  Wards  (of  which  Salisbury 
was  Master)  died,  the  King  had  left  to  him  the  choice  of 
a  successor,  and  he  chose  Sir  Henry  Hobart.  Now  that 
an  Attorney  General  had  to  be  chosen  —  whether  it  were 
that  Doderidge  had  been  found  on  trial  to  be  inefficient, 
or  that  Hobart  was  more  particularly  suited  to  his  own 
tastes  and  purposes — so  it  was  that  Doderidge  remained 
Solicitor,  and  within  a  week  after  Coke's  promotion,  Ho- 
bart became  Attorney ;   Bacon  being  still  left  outside. 

It  is  true  that  another  arrangement  was  in  contempla- 
tion, by  which  this  would  have  been  avoided.  It  appears 
to  have  been  the  wish  and  the  intention,  certainly  of  the 
Lord  Chancellor,  probably  of  the  King,  and  possibly  of 
Salisbury  himself,  to  make  way  for  Bacon's  advance- 
ment by  promoting  Doderidge  to  the  office  of  King's 
Serjeant,  —  an  office  of  higher  dignity,  —  and  so  vacating 
the  Solicitorship.  Why  this  was  not  done,  we  do  not 
know.  It  may  be  (as  iNIr.  Gardiner  has  suggested)  that 
it  was  thought  necessary  to  wait  for  a  vacancy  among  the 
King's  Serjeants ;  though  it  appears  from  the  account  of 
the  office  in  Cowell's  "  Interpreter,"  a  contemporary  work, 
that  the  number  of  them  was  not  limited.  But  at  any 
rate  it  was  not  done  ;  and  Bacon  thought  it  time  at  last 
to  come  to  some  distinct  understanding  as  to  his  own 
prospects.  He  had  had  fair  words  enough,  and  upon 
them  he  had  rested  patiently  until  fair  opportunities 
turned  up  of  giving  them  effect.  But  a  fairer  opj)ortu- 
nity  than  the  present  was  not  likely  to  come  again  ;  and  it 
was  fit  h(^  sliould  know,  with  a  view  to  the  ordering  of 
hi"  own  life  and  labors,  whether  he  might  reasonably  ex- 
pect to  advance  any  further  in  his  present  career.  He 
wrote,  therefore,  to  th(!  King,  to  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
and  to  SaHsbury,  reminding  them  of  his  position  und  his 
claims  to  the  Solicitorsliijt. 

What  answer  he  received  to  these  letters,  or   what  was 


1605-1607.]  PROMISES  OF  PKOMOTION.  487 

thought  of  them,  we  do  not  know.  We  know  only  that 
the  proposed  arrangement  did  not  go  forward  at  that 
time,  and  that  he  continued  as  he  was  for  half  a  year 
longer ;  when  he  appears  at  last  to  have  received  a  dis- 
tinct j)i'omise  of  promotion  to  the  Solicitorship  whenever 
Doderidge  should  be  removed. 

About  this  time  he  lost  a  private  friend,  for  whom  he 
appears  to  have  had  a  great  regard, —  Jeremiah  Betten- 
ham,  a  Reader  of  Gray's  Inn.  We  hear  of  it  by  mere 
accident ;  for  having  been  appointed  one  of  the  executors, 
and  had  occasion  to  write  a  letter  to  Sir  Thomas  Hobby, 
upon  whom  it  seems  that  the  estate  had  some  claim,  the 
distinction  of  his  own  name  has  had  virtue  to  preserve 
the  letter ;  which  being  some  years  since  carried  by  tlie 
chances  of  time  into  the  possession  of  the  late  Mr.  Pick- 
ering (publisher  of  Mr.  Montagu's  edition  of  Bacon's 
works),  he  very  kindly,  when  he  heard  what  I  was  about, 
showed  it  to  me  and  allowed  me  to  take  a  copy  for  in- 
sertion in  this  collection.  The  original,  which  is  all  in 
Bacon's  own  hand,  has  been  sold,  I  believe,  since  I  saw 
it ;  and  in  whose  possession  it  now  remains  I  do  not 
know.  It  is  printed  here  from  my  own  copy ;  but  as  it 
was  a  copy  taken  by  myself  and  collated  with  the  origi- 
nal by  Mr.  Pickering  and  myself  together,  it  may  be  de- 
pended upon  for  accuracy  as  much  as  any  other  in  the 
book. 

It  is  the  more  valuable  as  belonging  to  a  class  of  letters 
which  would  not  in  ordinary  cases  be  kept,  and  of  which 
therefore  w^e  have  few  specimens.  And  it  is  one  of  those 
which  are  of  great  use  to  a  biographer,  as  helping  him 
to  form  a  notion  of  the  ordinary  manners  and  familiar 
behavior  of  the  man  in  his  private  relations :  of  which 
IS  it  is  impossible  to  endeavor  to  follow  a  man  closely 
through  his  life  without  making  some  kind  of  picture  to 
one's  self,  it  is  of  no  small  importance  that  the  picture 
sliall  be  something  like  the  original. 


488      DEATH  OF  MR.   BETTEXHAM  OF  GRAY'S  INN.     [Book  III. 

"Like  men,  like  manners  :  like  breeds  like,  they  say. 
Kind  nature  is  the  best :  those  manners  next 
That  fit  us  like  a  nature,  second  hand: 
Which  are  indeed  the  manners  of  the  great." 

Judging  from  this  and  other  letters  of  the  same  kind 
that  have  come  down  to  us,  I  imagine  Bacon's  manners 
to  have  been  "  the  best.  " 

TO  THE    BIGHT  WORSHIPFUL   HIS   VERY  L'OVLNG  COUSIN, 
SIR  THOMAS   POST.  HOBBY.  ^ 

Good  Cousin,  —  No  man  knoweth  better  than  your- 
self what  part  I  bear  in  grief  for  Mr.  Bettenham's  de- 
parture. For  in  good  faith  I  never  thought  myself  at 
better  liberty  than  when  he  and  I  were  by  ourselves  to- 
gether. His  end  was  Christian  and  comfortable,  in  par- 
fite  memory  and  in  parfite  charity,  and  tlie  disposition  of 
that  he  left  wise,  just,  and  charitable. 

For  your  bonds  or  bills,  I  take  it  they  be  thi'ee, 
amounting  to  about  nine  score  pounds ;  I  left  them  with 
Mr.  Peccam,  because  of  your  nearness  to  me.  But  I 
shall  be  able  and  will  undertake  to  satisfy  your  desire 
that  you  may  take  time  till  Alliudlow  tide.  But  th-u 
we  sliall  need  it,  lest  we  subject  ourselves  to  importunity 
and  clamor.  Your  privy  seal  is  forthcoming ;  but  no 
money  was  by  Mr.  Bettenham  by  it  received ;  and  if  the 
conduit  run,  we  will  come  with  our  pitcher,  as  you 
write. 

Your  loving  congratulation  for  my  doubled  life,  as  you 
call  it,  I  tliank  you  for.  No  man  may  better  conceive 
the  joys  of  a  good  wife  than  yourself,  with  whom  I  dare 
not  compare.  But  I  thank  (jod  I  have  not  taken  a  thorn 
out  of  my  foot  to  put  it  into  my  side.  For  as  my  state 
is  somewhat  amended,  so  I  have  no  other  circumstance 
of  complaint.  But  lierein  we  will  dilate  when  we  meet ; 
which    meeting   will  be   niurli    more   joyful   if    my   Lady 

1  Yuungcst  son  of  Bacon's  aunt  Elizabeth  (now  Laily  Russell)  by  her  tir.sl 
marriage. 


1605-1607.]      DEATH  OF  MR.    BETTENHAM  OF  GRAY'S  INN.     489 

bear  a  part  to  mend  the   music :    to  wliora  I  pray  let  me 
in  all  kindness  be  commended.     And  so  I  rest 

Yours  assured, 

Fr.  Bacon. 

This  4th  of  August,  1606. 

Sir  Thomas,  I  suppose,  had  borrowed  money  of  Mr. 
Bettenham  upon  bond,  and  delivered  to  him  as  part  of 
the  security  his  privy  seal,  that  is,  his  claim  upon  the 
Exchequer  for  money  lent  to  the  King.  If  "  the  conduit 
ran,"  that  is,  if  repayment  of  such  loans  was  obtainable, 
the  executors  would  apply  it  towards  the  liquidation  of 
the  debt. 

Bacon  afterwards  erected  a  memorial  to  his  friend  ;  a 
seat  under  the  elms,  where  they  had  been  used  to  walk 
and  talk  together. 

"  There  was  still  standing  in  1774,"  says  Pearce  in 
his  "  History  of  the  Inns  of  Court,"  "  an  octagonal  seat 
covered  wdth  a  roof,  within  the  circle  of  trees  on  the 
west  side  of  Gray's  Inn  Gardens,  with  the  following 
inscription :  — 

Franciscus  Bacon, 

Regis  Solicitor  generalis, 

Executor  testamenti  Jeremice  Bettenham, 

nuper  Lectoris  hujus  hospitii, 

viri  innocentis,  abstinentis,  et  contemplativi, 

banc  sedem  in  memoriam  ejusdem  Jeremiae 

extruxit.     An.  Dom.  1609." 

The  inscription  is  given  in  Seward's  "  Anecdotes  of 
Distinguished  Persons, "  vol.  iv.,  p.  332,  but  not  in  the 
lapidary  form,  and  I  am  not  aware  that  the  original 
shape  has  been  preserved.  It  is  a  pity  that  somebody 
did  not  think  of  takincr  a  sketch  of  the  octagonal  seat  be- 
fore  it  was  removed. 

Bacon's  temperate  estimate  of  the  result  of  his  recent 
"experiment    solitary"    touching    matrimony,    I    take 


i90    TRANSLATION  OF  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING.  [Book  III. 

rather  as  evidence  that  "his  wisdom  likewise  remained 
with  him,"  than  that  the  experiment  had  been  unsuccess- 
ful, so  far. 

I  am  not  aware  of  any  other  writing  of  his  that  seems 
to  belong  to  the  summer  vacation  of  1606  (in  which 
much  time  would  probably  be  spent  in  preparations  for 
the  debates  on  the  Union  that  were  to  be  the  special 
business  of  the  coming  session,  and.  his  leisure  would  be 
sufficiently  occupied  with  his  "  Experientia  Literata " 
and  "  Interpretatio  Naturce,"  a  work  which  he  had  an- 
nounced as  in  progress),  unless  it  be  a  letter  to  Dr.  Play- 
fere  about  the  translation  into  Latin  of  the  "  Advance- 
ment of  Learning."  The  letter  has  no  date  ;  nor  is  the 
date  of  much  consequence ;  but  it  was  certainly  written 
"  some  while  "  after  November,  1605,  when  the  book 
was  published,  and  certainly  not  after  JuW,  1608  ;  and 
August  or  September,  1606,  being  as  likely  a  date  as  any, 
I  will  place  it  here. 

Dr.  Playfere  was  IMargaret  Professor  of  Divinity  at 
Cambridge,  and  a  distinguished  pn'acher  and  Latinist ; 
and  if  it  be  remembered  that  in  those  days  all  scholars 
could  read  Latin,  and  few  except  Englishmen  could  read 
English,  the  letter  (which  was  preserved  by  Bacon  him- 
sidf  in  his  Register-book,  and  first  printed  in  the  "  Resus- 
citatio  ")  may  be  left  to  speak  for  itself  without  further 
introduction. 

A  LETTER  OF  REQUEST  TO  DR.  TLAYFERE,  TO  TRANS- 
LATE THE  "  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING"  INTO  LATIN. 

Mi:.  Doctor  PlaYFER,  —  A  great  desire  will  take  a 
Kiiiall  occasion  to  hope  and  j)ut  in  trial  that  which  is  de- 
sired. It  phrased  you  a  good  while  since  to  express  unto 
me  tlie  good  liking  whicii  you  conceived  of  my  book  of 
the  Advancement  of  Jjcarning  ;  and  that  more  signifi- 
cantly (as  it  sfMiuied  to  me)  than  out  of  courtesy  or  civil 
respect.     Myself,  as  I  then  took  contentment  in  your  ap- 


1605-1(507.]  TRAXSLATIOX  OF  ADVANCEMENT  OF  LEARNING.  491 

probation  thereof  so  I  should  esteem  and  acknowledge 
not  onlj'  my  contentment  increased,  but  my  hibors  ad- 
vanced, if  I  might  obtain  your  help  in  that  nature  which 
I  desire.  Wherein,  before  I  set  down  in  plain  terms  my 
request  unto  you,  I  will  open  myself  what  it  was  which 
I  chiefly  sought  and  propounded  to  myself  in  that  work  ; 
that  you  may  perceive  that  which  I  now  desire  to  be 
pursuant  thereupon.  If  I  do  not  err  (for  any  judgment 
that  a  man  maketh  of  his  own  doings  had  need  be  spoken 
with  a  Si  nuncpiam  fallit  imago),  \  have  this  opinion, 
that  if  I  had  sought  my  own  commendation,  it  had  been 
a  much  fitter  course  for  me  to  have  done  as  gardeners 
use  to  do,  by  taking  their  seeds  and  slips,  and  rearing 
them  first  into  plants,  and  so  uttering  them  in  pots,  when 
they  are  in  flower,  and  in  their  best  state.  But  for  as 
much  as  my  end  was  merit  of  the  state  of  learning  to  my 
power,  and  not  glory  ;  and  because  my  purpose  was 
rather  to  excite  other  men's  wits  than  to  magnify  my 
own  ;  I  was  desirous  to  prevent  tlie  incertainness  of  my 
own  life  and  times,  by  uttering  rather  seeds  than  plants : 
nay  and  furder  (as  the  proverb  is)  by  sowing  w^itli  the 
basket,  than  with  the  hand.  Wherefore,  since  I  have 
only  taken  upon  me  to  ring  a  bell  to  call  other  wits  to- 
gether (which  is  the  meanest  office),  it  cannot  but  be 
consonant  to  my  desire,  to  have  that  bell  heard  as  far  as 
can  be.  And  since  that  they  are  but  sparks,  which  can 
work  but  upon  matter  prepared,  I  have  the  more  reason 
to  wish  that  those  sparks  may  fly  abroad,  that  they  may 
the  better  find  and  light  upon  those  minds  and  spirits 
which  are  apt  to  be  kindled.  And  therefore  the  private- 
ness  of  the  language  considered  wherein  it  is  written,  ex- 
cluding so  many  readers,  (as,  on  the  other  side,  the  ob- 
scurity of  the  argument  in  many  parts  of  it  excludeth 
manj'^  others),  I  must  account  it  a  second  birth  of  that 
work,  if  it  might  be  translated  into  Latin,  without  mani- 
fest loss  of  the  sense   and   matter.    For  this   purpose  I 


492  DR.  PLAYFERE.  [Book  Ilf. 

could  not  represent  to  myself  any  man  into  whose  hamls 
I  do  more  earnestly  desire  that  work  should  fall  than 
yourself ;  for  by  that  I  have  hoard  and  read,  I  know  no 
man  a  greater  master  in  commanding  words  to  serve 
matter.  Nevertheless,  I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  worth  of 
your  laboi-s,  whether  such  as  your  place  and  profession 
imposeth  on  you,  or  such  as  your  own  virtue  may,  upon 
your  voluntary  election,  take  in  liand.  But  I  can  lay 
before  you  no  other  persuasions  than  either  the  work  it- 
self may  affect  you  with,  or  the  honor  of  his  Majesty,  to 
whom  it  is  dedicated,  or  your  particular  inclination  to 
myself  ;  who,  as  I  never  took  so  much  comfort  in  any 
labors  of  my  own,  so  I  shall  never  acknowledge  myself 
more  obliged  in  any  thing  to  the  labor  of  another,  than 
in  that  which  shall  assist  this.  Which  your  labor  if  I 
can  by  my  place,  profession,  means,  friends,  travel,  word, 
deed,  requite  unto  you,  I  shall  esteem  myself  so  straitly 
bound  thereunto,  as  I  shall  be  ever  most  ready  both  to 
take  and  seek  occasions  of  thankfulness.  So  leaving  it 
nevertheless  salva  amicitia  (as  reason  is)  to  your  own 
good  liking,  I  remain. 

Dr.  I'layfero  a})pears  to  have  undertaken  the  task  with 
alacrity.  But  nothing  came  of  it ;  whether  because  hi8 
way  of  doing  it  did  not  suit  Bacon's  taste,  or  because  of 
his  own  failing  health,  is  uncertain.  Tenison,  who  had 
means  of  knowing  through  Dr.  Rawley,  gives  the  follow- 
ing account  of  the  matter.  "  The  Doctor  was  willing  to 
servci  so  excellent  a  ])erson  and  so  worthy  a  design  ;  and 
within  a  while,  sent  him  a  sjx'cJMien  of  a  Latin  transla- 
tion. Jiut  men  generally  come  short  of  themselves  when 
tli(^y  strive  to  outdo  tliemselv(\s.  Tliey  put  a  force  upon 
their  natural  genius,  and  in  straining  of  it  crack  and  dis- 
able it.  And  HO  it  seems  it  ha|»pened  to  that  worthy  and 
elegant  man.  Upon  this  great  occasion  he  would  be 
over-accurate  ;  and  he  scMit  a  specimen  of  such  superfine 


1605-1007.]  THE  INSTRUMENT  OF  UNION.  493 

Latiuity,  that  the  Lord  Bacon  did  not  encourage  him  to 
labor  further  in  that  work,  in  the  penning  of  which  he 
desired  not  so  much  neat  and  polite,  as  clear,  masculine, 
and  apt  expression." 

On  the  other  hand  there  is  a  memorandum  in  the 
"  Commentarius  Solutus,"  dated  25th  July,  1608,  — 
"  Proceeding  with  the  translation  of  my  book  of  Ad- 
vancement of  Learning:  hearkening  to  some  other,  if 
Playfere  should  fodl^''  —  which  proves  that  at  that  time 
Dr.  Playfere  was  still  engaged  upon  the  translation, 
thougli  Bacon  had  begun  to  doubt  whether  he  would  get 
it  done.  And  as  he  died  only  half  a  year  after,  at  the 
age  of  47 ;  and  I  gather  from  Fuller's  short  notice  of  him 
among  the  worthies  of  Kent,  that  during  the  last  year  or 
two  he  was  not  the  man  he  had  been  ;  it  seems  probable 
that  the  apprehension  of  failure  was  suggested  by  the 
state  of  his  health  or  faculties,  and  the  failure  caused  by 
his  death. 

Parliament  met  again,  according  to  appointment,  on 
the  18th  of  November  ;  and  the  Commons,  having  heard 
the  King's  speech  and  received  a  written  answer  to  their 
petition  of  Grievances  —  an  answer  quite  in  accordance 
with  the  King's  previous  promise,-*  and  in  which  if  there 
was  anything  unconstitutional,  all  the  recognized  con- 
stitutional authorities  (Coke  included)  were  as  much  im- 
plicated as  the  King  —  addressed  themselves  at  once  to 
the  business  of  the  Union. 

The  "  Instrument  of  Union "  (agreed  upon  by  the 
Commissioners  in  December,  1604)  having  been  laid  be- 
fore the  House  and  read,  the  question  was  how  to  proceed. 
Bacon  was  for  proceeding  by  conference  between  the  two 
Houses. 

But  the  immediate  resolution  of  the  House  was  not 
exactly  in  accordance  with  this  recommendation.  They 
resolved  not  only  to  distribute  the  subject  into  branches, 
but  to  divide  the  branches  between  the  two  Houses  ;  pro- 

1  See  p.  479. 


494  HOSTILE  LAWS:    ESCUAGE:    COMMERCE.        [Book  m. 

posing  to  leave  iiuitters  concerning  Naturalization  and 
the  Borders  to  the  Ltrds,  and  reserve  to  themselves 
matters  concerning  Commerce  and  Hostility.  This  pro- 
posal being  however  declined  by  the  Lords,  and.  on  recon- 
sideration immediately  withdrawn,  the  ultimate  conclu- 
sion was  according  to  Bacon's  suggestion.  The  two 
Houses  were  to  meet  and  confer  upon  the  whole  ques- 
tion ;  and  for  this  conference  the  former  Committee,  with 
some  new  members  added,  was  instructed  (29th  Novem- 
ber) to  prepare. 

The  Committee  began  with  the  hostile  laws ;  in  which 
they  met  with  no  material  difficulty,  until  they  came 
across  the  point  of  Escuage ;  which  being  "a  kind  of 
Knight's  service,  called  service  of  the  shield,  whereby  the 
tenant  holding  was  bound  to  follow  his  Lord  into  the 
Scottish  or  Welsh  wars  at  his  own  charge,"  — a  question 
was  raised  whether  this  should  not  now  cease  ;  no  such 
wars  being  any  longer  possible.  The  difficulty,  I  sup- 
pose, lay  in  this  :  tliat  Escuage  was  one  of  "  the  flowers 
of  the  Crown,"  closely  allied  to  Wardship,  and  did  actu- 
ally perhaps  give  a  right  of  wardship  in  tlie  case  of  such 
tenants  ;  and  it  was  considerable  enough  to  suggest  the 
expediency  of  a  special  conference  upon  it  with  the  Lords. 
What  part  Bacon  had  taken  on  it  in  the  Committee  the 
notes  in  the  Journals  are  not  full  enough  to  explain  ;  but 
the  House  had  so  much  confidence  in  him  as  a  represent- 
ative, that  he  was  selected,  along  with  the  Attorney,  the 
Solicitor,  and  the  Recorder,  "  to  propound  and  maintain 
argument  at  the  Conference,"  and  though  he  askiul  to  be 
excused,  as  being  unpi'epared,  he  was  lUivertheless  ordered 
to  stand.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  anotlun'  division  of 
the  C/oinniittee  had  been  discussing  ilie  :nticle  of  Coni- 
m<irce,  wliicli  presented  nior(^  formidable  (lilliculties;  and 
had  not  \n-o.\\  able  to  come  to  any  conelusion.  On  this 
point  their  reporter  declare<l  (9th  December)  that  lu?  had 
''nothing  to  rcjioit  but  eonfusion  and  disorder."     At  a 


1G05-1G07.]     DEBATE  ON  GENERAL  NATURALIZATION".  495 

subsequent  conference  on  the  subject  with  the  Lords 
(17th  December),  some  sharp  speeches  passed,  and  the 
mercluints  of  London  having  set  down  in  writing  tlieir 
reasons  against  community  of  trade  with  the  Scots,  "  were 
roundly  shaken  up  by  the  Lord  Chancellor."  And  as  it 
was  now  close  upon  Christmas,  the  Houses  were  ad- 
journed on  the  18th,  and  further  proceeding  postponed 
till  after  the  recess. 

Time,  which  is  the  best  medicine  for  some  kinds  of 
discontent,  aggravates  others  by  giving  the  discontented 
more  opportunities  of  talking  them  over  and  knowing 
one  another's  minds.  And  when  the  House  met  again 
on  the  10th  of  February,  these  minor  arrangements, 
bearing  upon  the  relations  of  two  separate  nations  under 
the  same  crown,  were  set  aside  for  awhile  to  make  room 
for  a  protest  against  the  project  for  making  those  two 
nations  one ;  towards  which  the  first  step  was  a  general 
naturalization. 

The  Commissioners  of  Union  appointed  in  1604  had 
agreed  to  recommend  the  passing  of  two  acts:  one  for 
the  Post-nati,  the  other  for  the  Ante-nati.  For  the  Post- 
nati,  an  act  declaring  "  that  all  the  subjects  of  both  the 
realms  born  since  the  decease  of  Elizabeth  ....  and 
that  shall  be  born  hereafter  ....  arc  by  the  common 
law  of  both  realms,  and  shall  be  for  ever,  enabled  to  ob- 
tain, succeed,  inherit,  and  possess  all  lands,  goods,  chat- 
tels, honors,  dignities,  oflfices,  liberties,  privileges  and 
benefices,  ecclesiastical  or  civil,  in  Parliament  and  all 
other  places  of  the  said  Kingdoms,  and  in  every  one  of 
the  same,  in  all  respects  and  without  any  exception 
whatever,  as  fidly  and  amply  as  the  subjects  of  either 
realm  respectively  might  have  done  or  may  do  In  any 
sort  within  the  Kingdom  where  they  were  born."  For 
the  Ante-nati,  a  new  law,  enacting  "  That  all  the  subjects 
i)f  both  realms,  born  before  the  decease  of  the  late  Queen, 
may  be  enabled  and  made  capable  to  acquire,  purchase 


496  DEBATE  ON  GENEKAL  NATURALIZATION.        [Book  III. 

inherit  succeed  use  and  dispose  of  all  lands,  inheritances, 
goods,  offices,  dignities,  liberties,  privileges,  immunities, 
benefices,  and  preferments  whatsoever,  each  subject  in 
either  kingdom  with  the  same  freedom  and  as  lawfully 
and  peaceably  as  the  very  native  and  natural  born  sub- 
jects of  either  realm,  where  the  said  rights  states  and 
profits  are  established  ;  notwithstanding  whatsoever  law 
statute  or  former  constitution  heretofore  in  force  to  the 
contrary :  other  than  to  acquire  possess  succeed  or  inherit 
any  office  of  the  Croum,  office  of  Judicature,  or  any  voice 
place  or  office  in  Parliament :  all  which  to  remain  still 
free  from  being  claimed,  held  or  engaged  by  the  subjects 
of  the  one  kingdom  within  tlie  other,  born  before  the  de- 
cease aforesaid  ....  until  there  be  such  a  perfect  and 
full  accomplishment  of  the  Union  as  is  mutually  desired 
by  both  realms  ;  "  it  being  nevertheless  understood  that 
the  proposed  act  was  not  to  interfere  with  the  prerogative 
of  the  Crown  "  to  denizate,  enable,  and  prefer  to  such 
offices,  etc.,  all  English  and  Scottish  subjects  born  before 
the  decease  of  the  late  Queen  as  freely,  as  sovereignly 
and  absolutely,  as  any  his  M.  royal  progenitors  Kings  of 
P^ngland  and  Scotland  might  have  done  at  anytime  here- 
tofore." 

The  meditations  of  the  recess  had  conjured  up  a  host 
of  ten-ors  at  the  prospect  of  thus  opening  the  gate  and 
letting  the  lean  kine  into  the  fat  pasture.  And  those 
who  h;id  been  so  little  alarmed  by  the  proposition  during 
tlu;  first  week  after  it  was  laid  befon^  them,  that  they  de- 
sired to  hiave  it  entirely  to  the  consideration  of  the  other 
House,  AV(M'e  now  disposed  to  set  all  the  rest  aside  and 
)nak<!  th(;ir  special  stand  upon  this.  The  feeling  broke 
out  first  on  the  l^ith  of  I^'el)ruary,  in  a  vehement  invec- 
tive from  the  nicnibci-  for  IJucks  against  Scotland  and 
Scotchmen  in  general ;  which,  though  7'eceived  "with  a 
genei'al  ama/ement,"  was  allowed  at  the  time  to  pass 
witliout  reply  or  remark.     Next  day  "  the  article  of  the 


1605-1G07.]     QUESTION  OF  LAW  AS  TO   THE  POST-XATI.  497 

instrument  concerning  Naturalization  was  read"  in  the 
House  by  the  Speaker ;  and  the  debate  opened  witli  a 
speech  against  it  from  Nicholas  Fuller,  who  seems  to 
have  been  recognized  as  leader  of  the  opposition,  in  so 
far  as  that  office  can  be  said  to  have  been  recognized  in 
those  days ;  in  which  the  apprehensions  that  so  readily 
suggest  themselves  to  Englishmen  when  invited  to  alter 
anything  found  fluent  and  forcible  utterance.  England, 
it  seems,  was  already  full  to  overflowing  in  all  her  de- 
partments ;  there  was  no  room  for  a  Scotchman  any- 
where. The  universities  had  more  men  who  deserved 
preferment  than  could  find  it.  London  was  so  pestered 
with  new  buildings,  that  they  had  a  bill  then  before  the 
House  to  restrain  them.  The  merchants  had  made  no 
profit  for  three  j^ears  past.  Trades  were  all  overstocked. 
And  so  forth.  His  argument  appears  to  have  occupied 
the  whole  day,  and  it  was  not  till  the  17th  that  it  re- 
ceived a  reply  ;  when  Bacon  delivered  a  speech,  in  which 
he  took  strong  ground  in  favor  of  general  naturalization. 
What  was  the  exact  form  of  the  question  before  the 
House  when  this  speech  was  made,  the  Journals  do  not 
distinctly  explain.  Bacon  evidently  wished  to  turn  it 
upon  the  consideration  of  general  policy,  —  or  "  conven- 
iency  "  as  it  was  called,  —  which  was  indeed  the  proper 
province  of  the  Legislature  ;  for  upon  the  question  what 
the  existing  law  was^  they  had  no  authority  to  decide. 
And  if  they  were  satisfied  that  a  general  naturalization 
was  expedient,  though  not  pi'epared  to  affirm  that  the 
Post-nati  were  naturalized  already,  there  was  no  need  to 
meddle  with  the  question.  It  would  have  been  easy  to 
frame  the  Act  so  as  either  to  include  them  under  the 
new  law  or  leave  them  to  the  operation  of  the  old.  But 
the  truth  was  that  they  were  not  prepared  to  admit  any 
of  the  Scots  to  the  benefits  of  naturalization,  except  upon 
conditions ;  and  therefore  it  was  necessary  to  put  a  veto, 
if  possible,  upon  the  doctrine  that  the  Post-nati  wore  en- 

-woL.  I.  32 


498  QUESTION  OF  LAW  AS  TO  THE  POST-NATI.     [Book  III. 

titled  to  admission  as  the  law  stood.  Hence,  as  the  de- 
bate went  on,  it  shifted  more  and  more  from  the  point  of 
"  conveniency  "  towards  the  point  of  law ;  and  ended  at 
last  on  the  fifth  day  in  an  instruction  to  the  Committee 
to  discuss  it  among  themselves  and  "  report  their  opinion 
on  that  point  only."  Their  opinion  was  that  the  Post- 
nati  were  not  naturalized  de  jure  ;  and  upon  their  report 
to  that  effect  (23d  February)  —  the  House  having  in  the 
mean  time  passed  a  resohition  (21st  February)  that  it 
•was  not  fit  to  handle  tlie  point  of  conveniencj^  before 
the  point  of  law  were  determined,  —  they  were  again  in- 
structed "  to  collect  and  set  down  in  writing  the  heads 
of  the  arguments ....  touching  tlie  point  of  law,"  and 
to  consider  who  should  be  deputed  to  maintain  each  of 
the  heads  at  the  conference  with  the  Lords,  which  was 
to  be  the  next  step. 

The  object  of  the  conference  being  to  establish  a  po- 
sition which  Bacon  had  just  declaimed  to  be  in  his  opinion 
"  contrary  to  reason  of  law,  contrary  to  form  of  pleading 
in  law,  and  contrary  to  authority  and  experience  of  hiw," 
he  could  not  be  asked  to  take  a  part  in  maintaining  it  by 
argument.  But  he  was  not  the  less  fit  to  set  forth  the 
state  of  the  question  at  issue,  and  to  explain  the  proposed 
method  of  discussion  ;  and  accordingly  the  part  assigned 
to  him  by  the  House  was,  ''  to  make  the  entrance,  by  way 
of  preaml)le  and  insinuation  of  the  order  of  argument 
appointed  to  the  Committee  ;  "  to  whith  was  added  the 
duty  (which  proved  a  very  heavy  one)  of  making  repout 
of  the  proceedings  to  the  House  the  next  morning. 

It  seems  that  at  these  conferences  between  the  Lords 
and  the  Commons,  the  rnh^  was  that  the  Connnons  should 
stand  all  the  time,  barehea<led ;  which  was  found  "a 
great  hurt  and  danger  to  the  health  of  tlieic  Itodies,  and 
almost  impossible  for  the  strongest  body  to  endure,  con- 
sidering tlu!  length  of  conferences  and  the  crowding  and 
thronging  there."     On  this  occasion,  the  conference  hav- 


lGOo-1607.]       DISTIXCTION  OF  POST-NATI  AND  ANTE-NATI.     499 

ing  lasted  very  long  and  been  continued  tlirougb  two 
successive  days,  the  fatigue  appears  to  have  been  too 
much  for  Bacon's  constitution,  and  on  the  next  morning 
he  was  ill  and  unable  to  appear  in  the  House.  But  on 
Saturday,  the  28th  of  February,  he  began  his  report ; 
which  "  being,"  says  the  Journal,  "  very  long,  consisting 
of  many  divisions  and  particulars,  and  interlaced  with 
much  variety  of  argument  and  answer  of  both  parts,  the 
time  would  not  allow  him  to  finish,,  and  so  was  deferred 
till  Monday  morning."  On  that  day  he  reported  "the 
answer  of  ray  Lords  the  Judges  "  to  the  reasons  advanced 
by  the  Commons  for  concluding  that  Scots  born  since  the 
King  came  to  the  Crown  were  not  naturalized  in  Eng- 
land ;  the  Judges  holding  that  they  were. 

They  had  now  had  their  conference  upon  the  point  of 
law,  and  received  their  answer ;  which  left  them  in  a  dif- 
ficulty. For  upon  the  question  what  the  law  was,  though 
they  might  dispute,  the  Judges  must  decide.  It  was  now 
plain  that  the  Judges  would  decide  against  them  ;  and 
what  more  could  they  do  ?  To  do  nothing,  would  be  to 
leave  all  the  Post-nati  in  unconditional  possession  of  the 
privileges  to  which,  except  upon  conditions,  they  thought 
it  dangerous  to  admit  them.  To  alter  the  law  by  an  Act 
of  Parliament  would  be  the  constitutional  remedy;  but 
it  would  require  the  consent  of  the  Lords  and  the  King, 
which  was  more  than  they  could  expect.  To  proceed  to 
a  conference  on  the  "  conveniency "  of  naturalization, 
would  seem  to  inijjly  acquiescence  in  the  decision  on  the 
point  of  law.  Long  debates  followed  both  in  the  House 
and  in  the  Committee,  and  some  fine  fencing  with  the 
Upper  House  as  to  the  terms  on  which  the  next  confer- 
ence should  be  held ;  the  Lords  pressing  for  a  conference 
"concerning  naturalization  in  general,"  the  Commons 
trying  to  commit  them  to  an  interpretation  of  the  words 
which  should  imply  not  only  that  the  discussion  was  to 
be  confined  to  the  question  of  "  conveniency  and  limita- 


500  THE  DISTINCTION  IN  COMMON  LAW.  [Book  III. 

tions,"  but  that  the  cases  of  the  Ante-nati  and  the  Post- 
nati  were  not  to  be  treated  as  distinct ;  faiUng  in  which, 
they  proceeded  to  instruct  their  own  Committee  to  de- 
cline the  discussion  if  such  distinction  were  insisted  on. 
And  on  these  terms  a  conference  was  held  on  the  14th  of 
March ;  at  which  nothing  could  be  concluded  because  of 
that  restriction. 

Of  this  proceeding  it  is  easier  to  understand  the  motive 
than  the  justification  ;  for  the  distinction  which  they  in- 
sisted upon  ignoring  was,  upon  any  view  of  it,  wide  and 
important.  The  question  was,  under  what  "  limitations  " 
it  was  ''  convenient  "that  the  Scotch  should  be  admitted 
to  the  privileges  of  naturalization.  Now  the  Post-nati 
had^  and  the  Ante-nati  had  not^  a  claim  by  the  common 
law  to  be  admitted  to  those  privileges  without  any  limi- 
tation ;  and  though  the  claim  might  be  disputable,  it  was 
not  one  which  the  House  of  Commons  had  any  authority 
to  decide.  Whatever  privileges  therefore  they  bestowed 
upon  the  one,  with  whatever  limitations  accompanied, 
were  a  benefit  and  free  gift ;  whatever  limitations  they 
imposed  upon  the  other,  with  whatever  privileges  ac- 
companied, were  a  disfranchisement. 

Had  they  consented  to  recognize  the  distinction  of  the 
cases,  they  might  have  had  much  to  say  upon  the  incon- 
vcniLMiccs  involved  in  the  interpretation  of  the  law  upon 
wliich  the  distinction  rested.  One  consequence  it  certainly 
had  which  might  on  some  other  occasion  have  proved 
very  mischievous,  and  against  which  it  miglit  have  been 
judicious  to  ])rovide  th(Mi  by  legislation;  for  if  true  in 
this,  it  would  be  true  in  jill  cases  of  union  uiidcu-  th(i 
same  (;ro\vn  Avithout  distinction.  And  if  that  iiad  been 
the  point  at  which  llu-y  ;iinied,  it  docs  Jiot  seem  ]M-obable 
that  they  would  have  met  with  any  obsf  ruction.  liiit 
that  was  a  remote  and  contingcMit  evil,  which  (though 
used  to  reinforce  other  objections)  was  not,  I  tliink,  the 
real  motive;  of  tlicii'  opposition.     It  was  the  second  objec- 


1G05-1G07.]        THE  END  SOUGHT  IN  ANOTHER  WAY.  501 

tion  touched  in  Bacon's  speech,^  namely,  that  the  Scotch 
not  being  subject  to  the  English  laws,  it  was  unfair  that 
they  should  be  endowed  with  English  privileges  and  liber- 
ties, which  really  stood  in  the  way ;  and  this  objection 
was  even  stronger  as  against  the  Post-nati,  who  in  another 
generation  would  be  all,  than  against  the  Ante-nati,  who 
had  only  a  life  interest  in  the  matter.  When  they  found 
therefore  that  the  authorized  interpreters  of  the  law  con- 
sidered the  Post-nati  to  be  in  actual  possession  of  all  the 
privileges  belonging  to  naturalization,  and  that  the  Up- 
per House  was  too  wary  to  engage  in  a  proceeding  by 
which  they  might  seem  to  commit  themselves  to  an  oppo- 
site opinion,  they  tried  to  get  at  their  end  another  way. 
Many  were  in  favor  of  some  action  to  be  taken  by  the 
Lower  House  for  the  purpose  of  invalidating  or  counter- 
acting the  Judges'  opinion  on  the  point  of  law;  and  for 
a  fcAV  days  after  the  abortive  conference  on  the  14th  of 
March,  Salisbury  was  so  apprehensive  of  some  such  issue, 
that  (the  Speaker  being  luckily  unwell  at  the  time)  he 
contrived  to  prevent  the  formation  of  a  House  by  advis- 
ing him  to  be  too  ill  to  attend.  The  delay,  or  the  diffi- 
culty, or  reflection  upon  the  many  mischiefs  which  such  a 
course  might  bring,  gave  an  advantage  to  more  prudent 
counsels ;  and  another  solution  of  the  problem,  which 
appears  to  have  been  already  suggested  by  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys,  began  to  find  favor. 

The  objection  was  good  only  as  against  an  imperfect 
union.  "  The  cause  of  this  imperfectness,"  said  Sandys 
to  the  Lords  at  the  last  conference,  was  "  in  the  Scottish 
nation  ;  by  inserting  this  clause  into  the  body  of  their 
Act,  that  their  fundamental  laws  or  privileges  should  not 
be  altered,  and  that  therein  they  have  expressed  their 
meaning  to  be,  to  stand  a  free  monarchy." 

The  desire  of  the  Commons  of  England,  he  added, 
was  for  "a  perfect  union;  which  with  consent  of  the 
i  On  the  17th  of  February,  in  favor  of  general  naturalization. 


502  MOTION  FOR  UNION  OF  LAWS.  [Book  Hi. 

Scottish  nation  might  be  effected  ;  and  by  the  direction 
and  aid  of  their  Lordships  such  an  one  might  be  set 
down  as  would  be  both  honorable  and  profitable  to  both 
nations." 

Let  the  two  nations,  in  short,  be  united  under  the  same 
law,  and  the  objection  to  naturalization  would  disappear. 

The  suggestion  (though  to  any  one  who  had  fairly 
considered  the  number  and  the  nature  of  the  questions 
that  would  have  to  be  encountered  it  could  not  but  ap- 
pear equivalent  to  an  indefinite  postponement  of  the 
whole  thing)  had  a  fair  sound  and  show ;  and  the  de- 
bates drew  gradually  nearer  and  nearer  to  this  solution 
of  the  present  difficulty ;  till  at  last,  on  the  28th  of 
March,  upon  occasion  of  a  new  and  pressing  message 
from  the  Lords,  inviting  them  to  a  free  discussion  "  on 
the  point  of  conveniency  only,  without  reference  to  any- 
thing that  had  been  said  before,  or  that  might  be  said,  in 
point  of  law,"  it  took  the  shape  of  a  distinct  motion. 
Upon  which  Bacon,  —  who,  I  need  hardly  say,  had  no 
])art  assigned  him  in  the  last  abortive  conference,  and 
does  not  indeed  appear  to  have  taken  any  share  in  the 
discussions  since  his  long  report  on  the  2d  of  ^Lirch,  — 
:;ame  forward  to  oppose  it. 

This  was  on  Saturday,  on  which  day  the  House  separ- 
a  ed  once  more  without  coming  to  any  conclusion ;  and  on 
Monday,  while  they  were  still  in  dispute  upon  the  answer 
they  should  send  to  the  proposal  of  conference,  for  which 
th(}  Lords  were  still  waiting,  they  were  informed  that  the 
King  desired  to  speak  to  the  House  the  next  day;  upon 
which  furtluM'  jtrocceding  was  of  course  suspended. 

'J'Im!  nt'xt  Sunday  was  Easter  Day,  and  the  King  being 
well  informed  as  to  the  tenor  of  the  debates,  Ixjth  in  tlie 
Houses  and  the  Committees,  thought  it  ex[)edient,  before 
they  separated  for  tin;  usual  recess,  to  nwiew  the  state  of 
the  question,  to  exphiin  onr.cs  more  liis  own  vi(!ws  and 
wishes,  and  to  answtM*  llie  objections  thil  had  been  urged 


1605-1C07.J      TIIE  KING'S  SPEECH  TO  THE  COMMONS.  503 

on  tlie  other  side.  His  speech  is  given  at  full  length  in 
the  Commons'  Journals,  and  though  long  is  well  worth 
reading,  if  it  were  only  that  we  may  understand  why  the 
men  of  his  own  time  formed  so  different  an  estimate  of 
his  character  and  abilities  from  that  which  is  now  popular. 
His  audience,  looking  forward  into  an  uncertain  future 
peopled  with  the  phantoms  of  danger  which  the  English 
imagination  is  so  quick  in  inventing,  would  be  much  less 
disposed  to  assent  to  his  conclusions  than  we  are,  who 
know  by  experience  that  those  dangers  were  not  sub- 
stantial. But  no  man  of  judgment  could  have  listened 
to  that  speech  without  great  respect  both  for  the  ability 
and  the  temper  of  the  speaker  ;  and  I  think  no  man  can 
read  it  now  without  feeling  that  wherever  he  was  at  va- 
riance with  the  popular  judgment  of  his  own  time,  it  was 
by  being  in  advance  of  it.  It  may  be  well  doubted  in- 
deed whether  it  is  ever  prudent  in  a  King  to  come  for- 
ward as  a  disputant  in  a  matter  which  must  be  decided 
by  votes :  but  the  very  disposition  to  put  it  upon  the 
issue  of  reason  and  fair  argument  was  an  evidence  of 
simplicity  and  humanity,  and  could  not  but  give  a  favor- 
able impression  of  the  personal  character  of  the  man. 

His  object,  of  course,  was  to  persuade  them  to  pass  at 
once  an  Act  of  general  naturalization,  by  way  of  prepar- 
ation for  the  more  perfect  union  which  lie  hoped  would 
follow  in  due  season  ;  and  the  adjournment  of  Parliament 
for  three  weeks  immediately  after,  gave  time  for  the 
speech  to  make  its  impression.  But  though  it  was  well 
received,  and  though  there  was  a  general  desire  on  all 
sides  to  avoid  anything  which  would  discontent  the  King, 
the  dislike  which  was  felt  to  the  proposition  itself  could 
not  be  got  over  so.  It  was  not  the  Crown  they  were  jeal- 
ous of,  but  their  fellow-subjects.  When  they  met  again 
they  took  the  business  up  where  they  had  left  it,  and 
opinion  still  ran  so  strongly  in  favor  of  a  union  of  laws 
as  an  indispensable  preliminary  to  a  general  n:)turaliza- 


504  CLOSE  OF  THE  SESSION.  [Book  III. 

tion,  that  it  ^yas  found  impracticable  to  proceed  further 
with  the  measure.  Once  more  the  King  tried  the  effect 
of  a  speech  to  remove  misunderstandings  ;  but  it  was  not 
80  well  considered  as  the  last ;  and  having  too  much  of 
complaint  and  remonstrance  in  it,  it  touched  the  feelings 
of  the  House  in  a  tender  place,  provoked  remonstrance 
in  return,  and  led  again  to  further  explanations.  And 
upon  these  terms  the  project  was  allowed  for  the  present 
to  drop. 

But  though  naturalization,  so  far  as  the  House  of  Com- 
mons could  forbid  it,  was  indefinitely  postponed,  laws 
made  for  a  state  of  hostility  between  the  two  kingdoms 
might  be  repealed ;  and  there  being  now  no  hope  of  good 
from  further  Conferences,  a  bill  was  next  brought  in 
"  for  the  continuance  and  preservation  of  the  blessed 
union  of  the  Realms  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  for 
the  abolishing  and  taking  away  of  all  hostile  laws,  stat- 
utes, and  customs  that  uiight  tend  to  disturb  or  hinder 
the  same." 

It  was  not,  however,  till  the  30th  of  June  that  this  Bill 
was  finally  passed  by  both  houses  ;  several  questions  hav- 
ing been  raised  whicli  led  to  mucli  dispute,  —  especially 
concerning  the  ])rovision  to  be  made  for  the  trial  of  of- 
fenders on  either  side  of  the  border ;  but  though  Bacon 
liad  a  good  deal  to  do  with  them,  both  as  reporter  and  as 
actor  in  the  sab.sequent  proceedings,  I  do  not  find  any 
record  of  the  part  he  took  personally  on  the  points  dis- 
])uted.  I  shall  only  add  therefore  that  the  act  was  set- 
tk'd  at  last  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  both  houses,  and 
took  its  place  in  the  Statute-book  —  the  principal  fruit  of 
the  long  session. 

For  his  own  piMsoiial  fortunes,  the  most  important 
event  of  the  session  was  his  promotion  at  last  to  the 
Si»li<'itorship,  which  took  place  silently  on  the  2r)th  of 
June.  Croke,  who  was  King's  8(M-joant,  was  made  a 
Puisne  Judge  of  tlio  King's  Bencli.     Doderidge  became 


1605-1G07.]  "THE  GREAT  INSTAURATION."  505 

King's  Serjeant  in  his  place ;  and  Bacon  succeeded  as 
Solicitor,  —  an  office  which  he  reckoned  to  be  worth 
X  1,000  a  year. 

It  was  probably  about  this  time  that  Bacon  finally 
settled  the  plan  of  his  "  Great  Instauration,"  and  began 
to  call  it  by  that  name.  In  1605,  he  had  (as  I  have 
already  mentioned)  digested  the  subject  in  his  head  into 
two  parts :  1st,  the  art  of  experimenting,  that  is,  of  fol- 
lowing an  investigation  with  intelligence  from  one  experi- 
ment to  another,  —  which  is  in  fact  the  art  that  Science 
has  been  practicing  ever  since,  and  by  means  of  which 
she  has  achieved  all  her  successes ;  and  2dly,  the  art  of 
what  he  called  "  Interpretation  of  Nature,"  which  was 
to  furnish  the  key  of  the  cipher,  and  in  revealing  the 
secret  of  all  natural  operations  to  give  command  of  all 
natural  forces. 

This  last,  as  he  came  to  look  into  it  more  closely,  he 
proposed  to  distribute  into  three  books  :  the  first  to  pre- 
pare the  way  for  the  reception  of  the  new  method  by 
removing  the  impediments  which  he  anticipated  in  the 
state  of  opinion  and  the  errors  of  the  mind ;  the  second, 
to  expound  the  method  itself;  the  third,  to  exhibit  the 
results  of  the  method  applied. 

Further  consideration  (with  reference,  however,  not 
merely  to  the  exposition  of  the  argument,  but  also  to  the 
better  preservation  of  his  own  various  philosophical  writ- 
ings) led  him  to  enlarge  the  plan  still  further.  A  review 
of  the  existing  stock  of  luiman  knowledge  —  of  which 
the  "  Advancement  of  Learning  "  was  a  sketch,  and  the 
"Descriptio  Globi  Intellectualis"  was  meant,  I  tliink,  for 
the  beginning  —  was  to  form  the  first  part.  The  second 
was  to  include  a  complete  exposition  of  the  new  method 
or  organum ;  together  with  all  the  preliminary  matter 
di>slgned  to  prepare  the  way  for  it.  The  third  was  ap- 
propriated to  the  collection  of  natural  and  experimental 
history,  —  Phenomena  Universi,  —  the  observed  and  as- 


506  IDOLS  OF  THE  TRIBE,   ETC.  [Book  III. 

eertained  facts  of  nature,  upon  which  the  new  method 
was  to  woik.  A  fourth  was  to  exhibit  examples  of  the 
application  of  the  new  method  in  certain  selected  sub- 
jects, —  examples  of  a  true  induction  carried  through  all 
its  processes,  from  the  observation  of  the  facts  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  "  form."  A  fifth  was  to  contain  certain 
provisional  speculations,  suggested  by  the  way,  on  sub- 
jects to  which,  for  want  of  completer  knowledge,  the  true 
method  could  not  yet  be  applied.  The  sixth  and  last 
was  to  set  forth  the  new  philosophy  itself,  —  the  book  of 
Nature  laid  open  and  explained,  —  Natura  illumiiiata, 
sive  Veritas  lierum. 

How  much  of  this  he  expected  to  execute  or  see  ex- 
ecuted, it  would  be  vain  to  conjecture.  But  though  the 
accomplishment  of  the  last  part  seemed  to  him,  even  in 
his  most  sanguine  moods,  remote  beyond  all  definite  an- 
ticipation,—  a  thing  reserved  for  "the  fortune  of  the 
human  race  "  to  achieve  in  some  future  century,  —  there 
is  no  doubt  that  (given  workmen  enough  and  time 
enough)  he  believed  the  whole  to  be  practicable  by 
human  means,  and  himscU'  to  be  capable  of  making  a 
b('<rinnin<i  which  would  lead  in  due  course  to  the  acconi- 
plishincnt  of  the  whole.  The  dilliculty  was  to  find  the 
workmen,  the  first  step  towards  which  was  to  find  hearers 
and  believers.  And  upon  this  point  the  taste  he  had 
taken  of  men's  opinions  during  the  last  year  or  two  ap- 
pears to  have  given  him  some  new  light.  It  had  shown 
him  that  besides  the  "  fallacies  or  false  appearances " 
<!immerated  in  the  "  Advancement  of  Learning" — illu- 
sions inseparable  from  our  mental  condition,  and  after- 
wards distinguished  as  Idols  of  the  Tribe,  the  Cave,  and 
the  iMarket-j)lace  —  there  was  another  class  of  idols  to  be 
dealt  with,  which,  though  not  inherent  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  tli(!  mind  ilseil',  nor  inseparable  from  the  condition 
<>i  man's  life,  were  ni'vertheless  extant  and  potent  in  fact, 
and  stood   more  obstinately  in  the  way.     These  w(-'re  the 


1605-1G07.]  "COGITATA  ET  VISA."  507 

received  systems,  in  the  belief  of  which  men  had  been 
brought  up ;  the  doctrines  taught  in  the  schools ;  the 
orthodoxies^  in  short,  of  philosophy.  To  clear  the  way 
for  the  reception  of  his  own  views,  it  was  requisite  in  the 
first  place  to  shake  men's  faith  in  these  :  and  it  was  at 
this  time  that  the  "  ■pars  destruens  "  was  designated  for 
the  foremost  place  in  the  great  argument,  and  the  re- 
dargutio  philosopliiarum  (afterwards  called  the  caution 
against  the  Idols  of  the  Theatre)  for  the  foremost  place 
in  the  pars  destruens.  Of  this  he  made  two  or  three 
different  sketches,  in  different  forms  and  styles ;  experi- 
ments, I  think,  as  to  the  most  effective  manner  of  treat- 
ing the  subject ;  the  dates  and  even  the  order  of  which 
we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  with  precision.  But 
there  is  one  which  I  am  inclined  to  regard  as  represent- 
ing at  once  the  earliest  and  the  latest  form  in  which  this 
part  of  the  argument  w'as  set  forth  ;  the  form  in  which, 
as  being  most  natural  to  him,  he  probably  began,  and  in 
which  for  the  same  reason,  after  making  trial  of  the 
others,  he  certainly  rested  :  although  the  copy  in  which 
it  has  been  preserved  may  be  very  different  from  the 
first  draft,  which  would  naturally  be  altered  and  enlarged 
in  successive  revisions.  This  however  is  only  a  guess. 
What  we  know  is,  that  some  time  before  February, 
1607-8,  he  had  shown  to  Sir  Thomas  Bodley  a  treatise 
entitled  "  Cogitata  et  Visa ;  "  containing  (according  to 
Sir  Thomas)  "  many  rare  and  noble  speculations,"  and 
"abounding  with  choice  conceits  of  the  present  state  of 
learning  and  worthy  contemplations  of  the  means  to  pro- 
cure it ;  "  the  general  purport  of  which  was  to  "  condemn 
our  present  knowledge  of  doubts  and  incertitudes,"  to 
recommend  the  "  disclaiming  of  all  our  axioms  and  max- 
ims, and  general  assertions,  that  are  left  by  tradition 
from  our  elders  unto  us  ;"  "and  lastly  to  devise,  being 
now  become  again  as  it  were  abecedarii,  by  the  frequent 
spelling  of  particulars  to  come  to  the  notice  of  the  true 


508  "COGITATA  ET  VISA."  [Book  III. 

generals,  and  so  afresh  to  create  new  principles  of 
sciences,"  and  "  a  knowledge  more  excellent  than  now 
is  among  us  "  (I  quote  Bodley's  own  expressions,  though 
not  the  aptest  tliat  might  be  devised),  and  tliat  among 
the  pieces  published  by  Gruter  in  1653  there  is  one  en- 
titled "  Cogitata  et  Visa  de  Interpretatione  Naturae,  sive 
de  Inventione  Rerum  et  Operum,"  consisting  of  a  series 
of  meditations  upon  the  various  causes  which  had  hin- 
dered man  in  acquiring  the  command  of  nature  ;  among 
which  the  incompetency  of  the  received  systems  of  phi- 
losophy and  the  received  methods  of  demonstration  and 
inquiry,  hold  a  prominent  place  :  a  treatise  to  which  all 
Bodley's  remarks  apply  well  enough,  as  far  as  they  go. 

The  letter  which  contains  them,  and  which  was  printed 
in  the  "  Remains  "  (1648),  is  dated  February  19,  1607  ; 
that  is,  1607-8  ;  and  helps  to  date  the  following  letter 
from  Bacon  to  Bodley,  which,  being  evidently  written 
before  he  had  heard  from  him,  and  at  the  beginning  of 
a  vacation,  must  be  referred  either  to  July  or  December, 
1607.  It  does  not  much  matter  which,  for  the  inference 
on  either  supposition  must  be  that  the  "  Cogitata  et  ^  isa  " 
represents  substantially  tlui  state  of  his  i)hilosphical  en- 
terprise in  the  sununer  of  that  year,  and  the  part  of  the 
task  upon  which  he  was  then  at  work.  I  say  substan- 
tially:  because  the  allusion  to  "  the  lodgings  chalked  up, 
whereof  I  speak  in  my  preface,"  implies  either  that  the 
treatise  was  not  then  exactly  in  the  sha[)e  in  which  it 
has  been  preserved, — for  it  h;is  no  preface,  nor  is  there 
anything  in  it  about  the  chalked  lodgings,  —  or  that  it 
had  been  accDiMpunicid  witli  other  papers  on  the  sanui 
subject:  which  indeed  seems  \cvy  [)robable. :  and  that 
one  of  them  was  the  "  Partis  Inslaurationis  Secundio 
Delineatio  et  Argiimriilniu/"  in  which  (as  printed  by 
Gruterj   sucji  ;l  passage  dues  occur. 


1605-1607.]  LETTER  TO  SIE  THOMAS  BODLEY.  509 

A  LETTER  TO  SLR  THO:  BODLEY,  APTEE  HE  HAD  IM- 
PARTED TO  SIR  THO:  A  WRITING  ENTITULED  COGI- 
TATA  ET  VISA. 

Sir,  — In  respect  of  my  going  down  to  my  house  'n 
the  country,  I  shall  have  miss  of  my  papers  ;  which  I 
pray  you  therefore  to  return  unto  me.  You  are,  I  beai 
you  witness,  slothful,  and  you  help  me  nothing  ;  so  as  1 
am  half  in  conceit  that  j^ou  affect  not  the  argument  ;  for 
myself  I  know  well  you  love  and  affect.  I  can  say  no 
more  to  you  but  non  canimus  surdis,  respondent  omnia 
sylvce.  If  you  be  not  of  the  lodgings  chalked  up  (whereof 
I  speak  in  my  preface)  I  am  but  to  pass  by  your  door. 
But  if  I  had  you  but  a  fortnight  at  Gorhambury,  I  would 
make  you  tell  me  another  tale ;  or  else  I  would  add  a 
Cogitation  against  Libraries,  and  be  revenged  on  you  that. 
way.  I  pray  send  me  some  good  news  of  Sir  Thomas 
Smith,  and  commend  me  very  kindly  to  him.     So  I  rest. 

Bodley  might  help  Bacon  with  supply  of  books  ;  but, 
for  ideas,  it  must  have  been  manifest  from  the  moment 
his  answer  came  that  no  liglit  could  be  looked  for  from 
that  quarter  ;  not  even  the  light  which  is  given  by  in- 
telligent opposition.  Nothing  can  be  weaker  or  more 
confused  than  his  reasons  for  dissent,  unless  it  be  his  ap- 
prehension of  the  question  at  issue. 

Bacon  had  the  more  leisure  for  the  prosecution  of 
these  studies  at  this  time,  because  Salisbury,  though  he 
had  consented  at  last  to  help  him  to  tlie  Solicitorship, 
showed  no  disposition  to  use  him  (as  he  would  no  doubt 
have  been  very  willing  to  be  used)  in  higher  matters 
than  those  immediately  belonging  to  his  office.  It  might 
have  been  supposed  that  as  his  services  in  the  House  of 
Commons  had  been  found  so  valuable  to  the  government, 
bis  advice  and  assistance  in  all  measures  which  were 
likely  to  come  under  discussion  in  the  House  of  Commons 


510  PROCLAMA.TIONS  DRAWN  BY  BACON.  [Boos  III. 

would  have  been  souglit  and  prized.  But  wliethei-  it 
was  that  Sahsbury  preferred  the  service  of  men  who 
could  not  be  suspected  of  being  more  than  servants  ;  or 
that  he  knew  Bacon's  modes  of  proceeding  (and  his  ends, 
perhaps,  likewise)  to  be  different  from  his  own ;  or  that 
he  feared  to  admit  such  an  eye  too  near  the  secrets  of 
his  purposes  and  policy  (for  he  was  at  this  time  pi-ivately 
receiving  an  annual  pension  from  the  King  of  Spain)^  — 
certain  it  is  that  no  traces  of  confidential  consultation  on 
matters  of  general  policy  are  to  be  found  among  the 
papers  of  either ;  no  memorials  or  letters  of  advice  ad- 
dressed by  Bacon  to  Salisbury,  like  those  "  Considerations 
touching  the  Queen's  Service  in  Ireland "  which  he 
volunteered  in  1601  ;  but  only  a  few  letters  and  drafts 
on  matters  falling  directly  within  the  duty  of  the  So- 
licitor General. 

Among  these,  however,  there  are  two  drafts  of  Proc- 
lamations, which,  though  not  included  in  Bacon's  own 
collection,  or  otherwise  acknowledged  as  compositions  of 
his  own,  have  marks  of  his  hand  upon  them,  sufficient,  I 
think,  to  entitle  them  to  a  place  here.  They  are  pre- 
served among  the  State  Papers  now  at  the  Rolls  House  ; 
where,  if  they  were  drafts  submitted  to  Salisbury  for 
consideration,  they  would  naturally  be.  They  are  both 
written  in  the  hand  of  a  scribe  knowu  to  have  been 
in  Bacon's  employment  about  this  time  :  botli  are  cor- 
rected here  and  there,  and  both  are  docketed,  in  his  own 
liand  ;  and  one  of  them  is  largely  corrected  in  the  hand 
of  Salisbury.  The  presumption,  therefore,  is  that  the 
papers  in  their  original  form  wore  of  Bacon's  own  com- 
position. WluUlicr  of  his  own  suggestion  also,  or  drawn 
up  by  dirc<'tion  of  the  government,  it  is  not  possible  to 
say. 

TIkj  first  bcjirs  nj)on  a  (jucstion  of  ronsi(l('ral)l('  interest 
in  th(}  history  of  tlir  struggle  bctwei'n  tlu^  Royal  Prerog- 

'  Gardiiipr,  ii..   p.  356. 


1605-1607.]        PROCLAMATION  CONCERNING  JURORS.  511 

ative  and  the   Courts  of  Law,  —  the  question  as  to  tlie 
Jurisdiction  of  the  Provincial  Council  in  Wales, 

The  other  relates  to  a  subject  of  more  general  interest, 
and  looks  to  me  very  much  like  an  original  suggestion  of 
Bacon's  own,  appreciated  and  acted  on  by  the  King,  but 
(like  many  of  his  ideas)  too  far  in  advance  to  take  effect 
upon  popular  opinion.  The  '-British  jury"  is  one  of  our 
most  venerated  institutions,  and  has  done  and  continues 
to  do  an  incalculable  amount  of  good  service.  Yet  it  can- 
not be  said  that  on  a  disputable  question  of  fact  the  de- 
cision of  a  jury  carries  much  authority  in  men's  opin- 
ions ;  or  that  our  veneration  for  the  institution  protects  it 
from  ridicule,  when  the  verdict  is  distasteful.  This  could 
hardly  be,  —  the  gravit}^  of  the  office  considered,  —  if 
the  capacity  of  the  men  to  whom  it  is  usually  committed 
were  not  felt  to  be  somewhat  below  the  general  level. 
And  it  is  very  difficult  to  say  why  a  business  of  such  im- 
portance should  be  thought  below  the  dignity  of  the  best 
instructed  classes,  or  entrusted  to  any  below  the  best 
procurable.  The  truth,  I  suppose,  was  simply  that  the 
service  being  troublesome  and  unattractive,  the  higher 
classes  vised  their  influence  to  be  relieved  from  it ;  and 
fashion  is  too  strong  for  kings  and  laws.  The  following 
draft,  written  in  a  hand  known  to  have  been  in  Bacon's 
employment  about  this  time,  and  corrected  and  docketed 
in  his  own,  was  an  attempt  to  introduce  a  better  fashion ; 
which,  had  it  succeeded,  would  have  greatly  raised  the 
value  of  a  jury's  verdict,  and  produced  effects,  direct  and 
indirect,  more  than  can  be  easily  estimated,  and  cer- 
tainly beneficial.  The  form  in  which  it  was  originally 
drawn  being  that  which  best  represents  Bacon's  idea  (if 
I  am  right  in  supposing  it  to  be  of  his  composition),  I 
j^riut  it  from  the  manuscript  as  it  stood  before  Salisbury 
touched  it. 


512  PROCLAMATION  CONCERNING  JURORS.        [Book  III. 


A  PROCLAMATION  FOR   JURORS. 

As  it  is  a  principal  part  of  our  kingly  office  to  admin- 
ister justice  to  our  people,  by  wliicli  also  our  throne  and 
sceptre  is  established  and  confirmed  ;  so  we  conceive  that 
we  may  truly  and  justly  thus  far  reap  the  fruit  of  a  good 
conscience,  as  to  be  witness  to  ourselves,  and  likewise  to 
report  ourselves  not  only  to  our  Privy  Council,  which  are 
acquainted  with  our  more  secret  cares  and  cogitations, 
and  our  Judges  and  Learned  Counsel,  with  whom  we 
have  had  more  frequent  conference  than  princes  formerly 
have  used,  but  generally  also  to  all  others  our  loving  sub- 
jects (in  regard  of  some  our  public  actions),  whether  in 
these  few  years  of  our  reign  (notwithstanding  we  could 
not  be  at  our  first  entrance  so  well  informed  as  now  we 
are  in  the  laws  and  customs  of  this  our  realm)  we  have 
not  exercised  and  employed  our  princely  care,  power,  and 
means  for  the  furtherance  and  advancement  of  justice 
duly  and  speedily  to  be  administered  to  all  our  loving 
subjects.  For  it  appcareth  that  we  hav(i  increased  the 
number  of  our  Judges  in  our  principal  benches,  to  avoid 
the  delay  of  the  subject  by  equality  of  voices  ;  and  we 
have  moderated  and  appeased  souk;  differences  and  con- 
leutions  amongst  our  Courts  in  point  of  jurisdiction,  to 
avoid  double  vexation  of  suits  ;  and  have  from  time  to 
time  in  person  given  more  strait  charge  to  our  Judges 
before  tiieir  circuits  and  visitations,  and  received  again 
from  them  more;  strait  accounts  and  reports  at  tlieir  re- 
turns, than  hci-etofore  hath  been  accustomed.  And  as 
we  liave  been  thus  careful  of  our  Courts  and  Judges  of 
tlie  F^aw,  so  may  we  nowise  omit  to  extend  our  princely 
I'are  to  another  sort  of  judges  (though  they  be  termed 
by  anotlier  name)  upon  whom  lietii  a  principal  part  of 
judicature,  wliicli  ar(}  tlie  Judges  of  the  Fact,  and  by  the 
<iiHtom  of  the  realm  calhul  Jurors,  which  try  and  decide 
the    is.iues  and    points  of  fact    in    all    cntroversies    and 


1605-1607.]         PROCLAMATION  CONCERNING  JURORS.  513 

causes  ;  —  a  matter  no  less  important  to  the  sum  of  jus- 
tice than  tlie  true  and  judicious  exposition  of  the  laws 
themselves.  For  even  that  judgment  which  was  given 
by  a  King  in  person,  and  is  so  much  commended  in  the 
Scriptures,  was  not  any  learned  exposition  of  the  law,  but 
a  wise  sifting  and  examination  of  the  fact,  where  testi- 
mony was  obscure  and  failed  :  unto  which  sort  of  Judges 
also  the  law  of  this  our  realm  doth  ascribe  such  trust 
and  confidence,  as  it  neither  ties  them  to  the  evidence 
and  proofs  produced,  neither  disableth  any  witness  (ex- 
cept in  case  of  perjury)  to  be  used  ;  but  leaveth  both 
supply  of  testimony  and  the  discerning  and  credit  of  tes- 
timony wholly  to  the  Juries'  consciences  and  understand- 
ing, yea,  to  their  private  knowledge.  But  berewithal  we 
consider  with  ourselves  that  this  proceeding  by  Jury, 
which  is  one  of  the  fundamental  laws  and  customs  of 
this  our  island  of  Britanny,  and  almost  proper  and  sin- 
gular unto  it  in  regard  of  other  nations,  as  it  is  an  ex- 
cellent institution  in  itself  (as  that  which  supplieth  in- 
finite delays  which  grow  upon  exceptions  to  witnesses; 
spareth  rigorous  examination  by  torture  in  cases  capital ; 
and  doth  not  accumulate  upon  the  same  persons  the 
trust  and  confidence  to  be  Judges  both  of  law  and  fact)  ; 
so  nevertheless  it  is  then  laudable  and  good  when  those 
persons  which  serve  upon  the  said  Juries  are  men  of 
such  quality,  credit,  and  understanding,  as  are  worthy 
to  be  trusted  with  so  great  a  charge  as  to  try  men's  lives, 
good  names,  lands  and  goods,  and  whatsoever  they  hold 
dear  in  this  world.  Wiierein  we  cannot  but  observe  and 
highly  commend  the  wisdom  of  the  laws  of  this  our  realm 
(taking  them  in  their  own  nature  before  abuses  crept  in) 
which  have  in  this  point  so  well  provided.  For  as  in  the 
trial  of  any  Peer  of  this  realm,  the  law  doth  not  admit 
any  to  pass  upon  him  but  Peers,  so  in  the  trial  of  any  of 
the  Commons  (which  the  law  beholdeth  but  as  one  body) 
there  is  no  person  whatsoever  (were  he  of  our  Counsel  of 

vol..  I.  33 


514  PROCLAMATION  CONCERNING  JURORS.        [Book  III. 

Estate)  by  rule  of  law  exempted,  in  respect  of  his  quality 
and  degree  only,  fi'oni  the  service  upon  Juries  ;  whereas 
on  the  contrary  part  the  law  hath  limited  that  none  serve 
except  he  have  a  certain  proportion  of  freehold  ;  and  yet 
notwithstanding  time  and  abuse  have  so  embased  the  es- 
timation of  this  service,  and  altered  the  use  thereof,  as 
sheriffs,  under  sheriffs,  and  bailiffs  do  not  only  spare  gen- 
tlemen of  quality  in  a  kind  of  awe  and  respect ;  but  do 
likewise  for  lucre,  gain,  and  reward,  forbear  to  return 
many  of  the  ablest  and  fittest  persons  ;  so  that  the  ser- 
vice oftentimes  resteth  upon  such  as  are  either  simple 
and  ignorant,  and  almost  at  a  gaze  in  any  cause  of  dif- 
ficulty ;  or  else  so  accustomed  and  inured  to  pass  and 
serve  upon  Juries,  as  they  have  almost  lost  that  tender- 
ness of  conscience  which  in  such  cases  is  to  be  wished, 
and  make  the  service  as  it  were  an  occupation  or  prac- 
tice. Upon  these  grounds,  therefore,  and  upf)n  advice 
taken  with  our  Privy  Counsel  and  conference  with  our 
Judges  and  Counsel  Learned,  we  have  resolved  to  give 
remedy  to  these  abuses,  and  to  restore  the  trial  of  this 
our  reahu  of  England  to  tiie  ancient  integrity  and  credit. 
And  thei'efore  we  do  hereby  i)ublish  and  declare  to  all 
our  loving  subjects,  that  they  tak(i  light  from  us  of  the 
greatness  of  this  service ;  and  that  the  gentlemen  of  the 
best  quality  do  put  away  that  vain  and  untrue  conceit 
tliat  they  are  any  ways  disgraced  or  disesteemed,  if  tiiey 
be  called  upon  or  used  in  this  part  of  Justice  to  be  Judges 
of  the  fact;  knowing  that  all  judgment  is  Gods  j)rinei- 
j)ally,  and  by  him  committed  unto  us  witliin  the  precinct 
of  our  kingdoms  as  his  minister  upon  earth,  to  wiiom  like- 
wise they  lire  subordinate  ;  and  we  do  likewise!  eli:vrg(!  and 
command  all  (jur  Judges,  Justices,  Sheriffs,  UntUusherilTs, 
iJaililTs,  and  (others  to  whom  it  may  appertain,  to  take 
knowledge  tiiat  it  is  our  exjiress  will  and  pleasun;  that 
all  persons  whieh  have  freehold  according  to  the  law 
(other  thiiu  suili  ;is  we  shall  by  our  express  letters  patents 


1C05-1G07.]         PKOCLAMATION  CONCERNING  JURORS.  515 

privilege  and  discliarge,  which  we  mean  to  do  moderately, 
and  but  upon  special  circumstances,  and  upon  a  reason- 
able fine  as  hath  been  used)  shall  be  returned  to  serve 
upon  Juries  as  occasion  shall  require  ;  foreseeing  also  that 
they  use  a  respect  that  the  same  persons  be  not  too  oft 
returned  and  troubled  ;  but  that  the  service  may  rest 
more  equally  and  indifferently  upon  the  whole  body  of 
freeholders  in  every  county,  the  one  to  ease  and  relieve 
the  other  ;  wherein  nevertheless  our  intention  is  not  but 
that  there  be  a  discretion  retained  in  returning  the  more 
principal  persons  upon  the  greatest  causes.  And  above 
all  we  do  strictly  admonish  and  prohibit  our  said  sheriffs 
and  the  undersheriffs  and  bailiffs,  that  they  presume  not 
at  their  uttermost  peril  directly  or  indirectly  to  take  any 
manner  of  reward,  profit,  or  gratification  whatsoever  for 
sparing  or  forbearing  any  person  whom  the  law  doth 
allow  to  be  returned  upon  the  service  aforesaid,  upon 
pain  to  be  punished  with  all  severity  according  to  our 
laws,  and  also  as  contemners  of  this  our  Royal  prohibi- 
tion. 

The  idea  was  approved  by  the  Government,  and  the 
proposed  Proclamation,  with  many  additions,  omissions, 
and  alterations,  chiefly  by  Salisbury,  but  without  sub- 
stantial variation,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  was  published  by 
authority  on  the  5th  of  October,  1607.  The  seed  fell 
upon  soil  too  hard  trodden  by  custom  to  nourish  and 
make  it  grow ;  and  it  is  not  likely  that  it  will  ever  bear 
fruit  in  old  England.  But  reason  does  not  die,  and  it 
may  be  that  in  some  younger  community  the  principle 
may  yet  be  taken  up  by  "  the  connnon  sense  of  most," 
and  the  function  of  the  petty  Jury  may  como  to  be  re- 
garded as  equal  in  dignity  to  any. 


BOOK  IV. 

— « — 

CHAPTER  I. 

A.  D.  1607-1609.    ^TAT.  47-49. 

Though  the  King's  bounty  flowed  much  more  freely  to 
those  about  him,  where  he  could  see  and  share  the  pleas- 
ure it  gave,  than  to  those  who  were  doing  his  heavy  work 
in  their  chambers  or  in  the  Courts,  yet  the  working-men 
came  in  for  some  of  the  crumbs.  Near  the  end  of  a  list 
of  "fees  granted  by  his  Majesty"  before  the  5th  of 
August,  1607,  I  find  the  following  entries :  — 

"A  Baron  of  the  Exchequer  increased  113^  &.■>  S'' 
"A  Judge  of  the  King's  Bench  increased  188'  6'  8'' 
"A  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  increased  188'  G"  S'' 
"Sir  Francis  Bacon  100' 

But  it  was  one  tiling  to  obtain  a  grant  of  the  money,  and 
anotlier  to  obtain  tiie  money  itself.  For  the  King  him- 
self must  get  it  before  he  can  give  it,  and  the  royallest 
mind  of  Vjounty  cannot  make  it  come  forth  from  the 
phice  where  it  is  not.  Tlie  Exchequer  not  being  abU>  to 
answer  all  such  demands,  questions  necessarily  arose  which 
should  be  answered  first,  and  these  would  naturally  lead 
to  disputes  with  tin;  oilicers.  It  was  pri)l)a1)ly  this  grant 
of  XlOO,  or  some  other  grant  of  the  sann;  kind,  that  led 
to  the  "  letter  of  expostulation"  which  comes  next,  and 
which  gives  us  an  oppoi-tunity  of  seeing  Bacon  a  little  out 
of  temper. 

Sir  Vincent  Skinncsr  was  an  officer  of  the  receipts  of 
the  Exchequ(!r,  whose  duty,  I  suppose,  it  was  to  pay  out 
of  those  receipts  such  suras  as  were  claimed  upon  due 


1607-1G09.]  DELAYS  IN  THE  EXCHEQUER.  617 

warrant.  It  seems  that  some  objection  had  been  made 
to  Bacon's  claim,  but  that  being  referred  to  the  Lord 
Treasurer  it  had  been  overruled  in  his  favor :  and  vvlieu, 
in  spite  of  this,  the  payment  was  still  delayed,  he  thought 
liimself  ill-used,  and  wrote  to  remonstrate:  with  what 
effect  I  cannot  say :  the  letter  itself  (which  comes  from 
his  own  collection)  containing  all  I  know  of  the  matter. 

A  LETTER  OF  EXPOSTULATION  TO  SIR  VLJfCENT  SKINNER. 

Sir.  Vincent  Skinner,  —  I  see  that  by  your  needless 
delays  this  matter  is  grown  to  a  new  question  ;  wherein 
for  the  matter  itself,  if  it  had  been  stayed  at  the  begin- 
ning by  my  Lord  Treasurer  and  Mr.  Chancellor,  I  should 
not  so  much  have  stood  upon  it ;  for  the  great  and  daily 
travels  which  I  take  in  his  Majesty's  service  either  are 
rewarded  in  themselves,  in  that  they  are  but  my  duty,  or 
else  may  deserve  a  much  greater  matter.  Neither  can  I 
think  amiss  of  any  man,  that  in  furtherance  of  the  King's 
benefit  moved  the  doubt,  that  knew  not  what  warrant 
you  had.  But  my  wrong  is,  that  you  having  had  my 
Lord  Treasurer's  and  Mr.  Chancellor's  warrant  for  pay- 
ment above  a  month  since,  you,  I  say,  making  your  pay- 
ments belike  upon  such  differences  as  are  better  known 
to  yourself,  than  agreeable  with  due  respect  and  his  IMaj- 
esty's  service,  have  delayed  it  all  this  time,  otherwise  than 
I  mought  have  expected  either  from  our  ancient  acquaint- 
ance, or  from  that  regard  which  one  in  your  place  may 
own  to  one  in  mine.  By  occasion  whereof  there  ensueth 
to  me  a  greater  inconvenience,  that  now  my  name,  in 
sort,  must  be  in  question  amongst  you,  as  if  I  were  a  man 
likely  either  to  demand  that  that  were  unreasonable  or 
be  denied  that  which  is  reasonable  ;  and  this  must  be, 
because  you  may  pleasure  men  at  pleasui'e.  But  this  I 
leave  with  this ;  that  it  is  the  first  matter  wherein  I  had 
occasion  to  discern  of  your  friendship,  which  I  see  to  fall 
'•■o  this  ;  that  whereas  Mr.  Chancellor  the  last  time,  in  my 


618  TOBY  MATTHEW'S  CONVERSION.  [Book  IV. 

man's  hearing,  very  lionorably  said  that  he  would  not  dis- 
content any  in  my  place,  it  seems  that  you  have  no  such 
caution.  But  my  writing  unto  you  now  is  to  know  of 
you  where  now  the  stay  is,  that  I  may  do  that  which  is 
fit  for  me  without  being  any  more  beholding  unto  you, 
to  whom  indeed  no  man  ought  to  be  beholden  in  these 
cases  in  a  right  course.     And  so  I  bid  you  farewell. 

Fit.  Bacon. 

24th  Dec.  1607. 

It  must  have  been  about  this  time  that  Bacon  made 
acquaintance  with  a  new  kind  of  mortification.  His 
young  friend,  Toby  Matthew,  for  whom  he  seems  to  have 
had  a  strong  personal  affection,  heightened  by  sympathy 
in  intellectual  ])ursuits  and  respect  for  his  judgment  and 
abilities,  had  left  England  in  April,  1005,  to  travel  in 
Italy;  where,  falling  into  the  company  of  Roman  Cath- 
olics, and  seeing  some  of  the  miracles  of  the  Church, 
he  became  a  convert,  was  absolved  from  his  lieresies,  and 
reconciled.  Tliough  he  continued  to  correspond  Avith 
Bacon  while  the  process  of  conversion  was  going  on,  he 
does  not  appear  to  have  consulted  him  or  admitted  him 
into  his  confidence  in  that  matter.  But  on  his  return  to 
England,  apparently  in  the  summer  of  1(307,  when  his 
license  to  travel  expired.  Bacon  was  the  first  person  of 
note  with  whom  lie  sought  communication.  What  passed 
between  them  we  are  not  told  ;  but  tlui  advice  he  received 
would  probably  be  that  he  should  lay  his  cas(;  before  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as  the  man  who  had  authority 
to  deal  with  such  cases ;  and,  accoi-dingly,  the  n(!xt  thing 
we  hear  is,  that  he  visited  Dr.  Bancroft.  TIk;  result  of 
this  visit  was,  that  he  was  "committ<Hl  to  prison;"  by 
which  I  understand  that  he  was  detained  in  safe  custody 
—  lodged  proltahly  in  I^ambeth  Palace,  with  somebody  to 
k(M'j)  watch  f)ver  him  —  while;  liis  case  was  under  considc'r- 
alioii.      And  this  was  in  August,  1007;  for  I  find  i I  stated 


1607-1G09.]  TOBY  MATTHEWS  CONVERSION.  519 

in  II  letter  from  Carleton  to  Chamberlain,  of  the  27th  of 
tliat  month,  that  "  Tobie  Matthew  hath  leave  to  go  as 
often  as  he  will  with  his  keeper  to  Sir  Francis  Bacon, 
and  is  put  in  good  hope  of  further  liberty." 

A  letter  in  Matthew's  collection  (p.  22),  entitled 
"  Sir  Francis  Bacon  to  a  friend,  about  reading  and  giv- 
ing judgment  upon  his  writings,"  was  no  doubt  addressed 
to  himself,  and  belongs  probably  to  this  period.  It  seems 
that  Bacon  had  been  expecting  a  visit  from  him,  and, 
being  called  away  on  business,  wrote  to  put  him  off. 
What  the  "  writing  "  was,  to  which  it  refers,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  infer  from  the  terms.  It  may  have  been  the 
"  Cogitata  et  Visa  "  in  some  of  its  shapes ;  or  it  may 
have  been  a  first  sketch  of  the  "  In  Felicem  Memoriam 
F.lizabethiB  "  (which  Ave  know  that  Bacon  did  show  to 
Matthew  when  he  was  in  England  on  this  occasion),  or 
the  "  Imago  Civilis  Julii  Csesaris,"  or  both.  But  that 
which  is  interesting  in  it  to  us  is  equally  interesting 
upon  any  of  these  suppositions. 

Sir,  —  Because  you  shall  not  lose  your  labor  this  after- 
noon, which  now  I  must  needs  spend  with  my  Ijord 
Chancellor,  I  send  my  desire  to  you  in  this  letter,  that 
you  will  take  care  not  to  leave  the  writing,  which  I  left 
with  you  last,  with  any  man,  so  long  as  that  he  may  be 
able  to  take  a  copy  of  it ;  because  first  it  must  be  cen- 
sured by  you,  and  then  considered  again  by  me.  The 
thing  which  I  expect  most  from  you  is,  that  you  would 
read  it  cai'efuUy  over  by  yourself  ;  and  to  make  some 
little  note  in  writing,  where  you  think  (to  speak  like  a 
critic)  that  I  do  perhaps  indormiseere ;  or  where  I  do 
indulgere  genio  ;  or  where,  in  fine,  I  give  any  mann^v  of 
disadvantage  to  myself.  This  super  totam  materiam, 
you  must  not  fail  to  note ;  besides,  all  such  words  and 
phrases  as  you  cannot  like  ;  for  you  know  in  how  high 
account  I  have  your  judgment." 


520  MATTHEW  IMPRISONED   FOR  RELIGION.        [Book  IV. 

Matthew's  case  being  in  the  mean  time  laid  before  tho 
King,  it  was  thought  expedient  to  offer  him  "  the  oath," 
which  the  King  tliouglit  he  would  not  refuse  to  take. 
This  it  seems  he  could  not  do  :  whereupon  he  was  com- 
mitted to  the  Fleet  prison  by  the  Archbishop,  and  there 
visited  by  various  people  of  various  kinds,  among  the  rest 
by  Bishop  Andrewes,  with  a  view,  I  suppose,  to  his  re- 
conversion. 

It  must  have  been  during  this  imprisonment,  which 
lasted  till  the  7th  of  February,  that  the  next  letter  was 
written,  which  comes  from  the  principal  collection  in 
Rawley's  "  Resuscitatio,"  and  is  the  first  I  have  found  in 
that  collection  which  is  not  also  contained  in  the  British 
Museum  MS.  (Additional,  5503).  It  had  been  printed 
before  in  the  "  Remains  ;  "  but  I  infer  from  Rawley's  in- 
cluding it  among  those  which  profess  to  come  from  his 
"  Lordship's  Register  Book  of  Letters,"  that  a  copy  had 
been  preserved  by  Bacon  himself. 

TO  MR.  MATTHEW,  IMPRISONED  FOR  RELIGION. 

Mr.  Matthew,  —  Do  not  think  me  forgetful  or  al- 
tered towards  you.  But  if  I  should  say  I  could  do  you 
any  good,  I  should  make  my  power  more  than  it  is.  I 
do  hear  that  which  I  am  right  soriy  for ;  that  you  grow 
more  impatient  and  busy  than  at  first ;  which  maketh  me 
exceedingly  fear  the  issue  of  that  which  seemeth  not  to 
stand  at  a  stay.  I  myself  am  out  of  doubt,  that  you 
have  been  miserably  abused,  when  you  were  first  seduced  ; 
but  that  which  I  take  in  compassion,  others  may  take  in 
severity.  I  pray  God,  that  understandtith  us  all  better 
than  we  understand  one  another,  contain  you  (even  as  I 
hope  H(^  will)  at  tlie  least  within  the  bounds  of  loyalty 
to  his  Majesty,  and  natunil  })iety  towards  your  country. 
And  I  intrciat  you  much,  sometim(!S  to  meditate  upon  the 
extreme  effects  of  superstition  in  this  last  Powder  Tr(»a- 
8on  ;  fit  to  be  tabled  and  |)icliired  in  flu;  chambers  of  mcd- 


1607-1G09.]  MATTHEW  RELEASED.  521 

itation,  as  another  hell  above  the  ground  ;  and  well  jus- 
tifying the  censure  of  the  heathen,  that  superstition  is  far 
worse  than  atheism  ;  by  how  much  it  is  less  evil  to  have 
no  opinion  of  God  at  all,  than  such  as  is  impious  towards 
his  divine  majesty  and  goodness.  Good  Mr.  Matthew, 
receive  yourself  back  from  these  courses  of  perdition. 
Willing  to  have  written  a  great  deal  more,  I  continue  — 

Such  power,  however,  as  Bacon  had,  he  used,  it  seems ; 
and  with  better  effect  than  he  had  ventured  to  promise. 
For  I  find  that  before  Matthew  was  delivered  out  of 
the  Fleet  prison,  "  Sir  Francis  Bacon  interceded  for  him." 
With  whom  he  had  used  his  influence,  and  how,  rau(^h 
his  intercession  had  to  do  with  what  followed,  my  author 
does  not  say.  But  of  the  circumstances  and  conditions 
of  his  liberation  we  have  the  following  account  in  a 
letter  from  Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  dated  lltli  Febru- 
ary, 1607-8  :  — 

"  Your  friend,  Tobie  Matthew,  was  called  before  the  Council- 
table  on  Sunday  in  the  afternoon,  and,  after  some  scliooling, 
the  Earl  of  Salisbury  told  him  that  he  was  not  privy  to  his  im- 
prisonment, which  he  did  no  ways  approve,  as  perceiving  that 
so  light  a  punishment  would  make  him  rather  more  proud  and 
perverse.  Biit  in  conclusion  they  allotted  him  six  weeks'  space 
to  set  his  affairs  in  order  and  depart  the  realm  ;  and  in  the  mean- 
time willed  him  to  make  choice  of  some  friend  of  good  account 
and  well  affected,  where  he  may  remain.  He  named  Mr.  Jones, 
who  has  accepted,  and  is  not  a  little  proud  of  his  prisoner." 

We  shall  often  hear  of  him  again,  for  during  the  whole 
term  of  his  banishment  a  correspondence  by  letter  was 
kept  up  :  and  it  was  in  the  last  year  of  Bacon's  life  that 
he  added  to  his  Essays,  at  Matthew's  special  request,  an 
Essay  on  Friendship,  in  commemoration  of  an  intimacy 
which  had  been  tried  by  adversity  and  prosperity  on  both 
aides,  and  endured  to  the  end  without  cloud  or  interrup- 
tion on  either. 


522  BACON  AND  SALISBURY.  [Book  IV. 

Unless  Bacon's  intercession  on  behalf  of  Matthew  was 
made  through  Salisbury  (which  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose),  he  had  not  at  this  time  any  particular  favor  to 
seek  or  expect  at  his  cousin's  hands.  He  had  been  mado 
Solicitor  General  only  half  a  year  before,  and  there  was 
no  prospect  at  present  of  any  vacancy  to  which  he  would 
have  aspired.  A  letter  therefore  addressed  "  to  the  Earl 
of  Salisbury  upon  a  new  year's  tide,"  on  the  first  occa- 
sion of  the  kiud  "  when  he  stood  out  of  the  person  of  a 
suitor,"  must  be  referred  to  the  1st  of  Jaiuiary,  1607-8. 

It  is  difficult  to  understaud  the  true  import  of  letters 
of  compliment,  without  an  acquaiutance  (more  familiar 
than,  at  the  distance  of  three  centuries,  it  is  easy  to  at- 
tain) with  the  fashious  of  the  time  in  such  matters.  The 
style  of  courtesy  is  as  much  a  matter  of  fashion  as  the 
style  of  dress  ;  and  forms  which  in  one  generation  it 
would  be  unmannerly  to  omit,  in  the  next  it  would  be 
vulgar  to  use.  But  comparing  this  with  other  letters  of 
Bacon's  own  on  similar  occasions,  we  may  gather  some- 
thing as  to  the  peculiar  relation  which  subsisted  be- 
tween the  two  men.  Bacon  was  two  years  older  than 
Robert  Cecil,  and  when  they  were  both  boys  must  have 
seemed  his  superior  :  but  the  position  and  influence  to 
which  the  younger  of*the  cousins  succeeded  so  eaily  had 
long  ago  altered  that,  and  entitled  him  to  b*e  addressed 
as  the  greater  man  :  which  Bacon  understood  perfectly 
well,  and  did  not  fail  to  remember.  But  what  he  did  not 
understand  was  how  far  his  cousin  was  really  his  friend. 
For  Cecil  liad  that  frank,  easy,  unceremonious  manner, 
which,  when  used  as  a  disgui.se,  is  of  all  di.sguises  the  most 
impen('trai)le.  More  than  once  Bacon  had  seen  rea.sou 
to  ihink  that  he  was  secretly  acting  against  him,  and 
once  at  least  had  told  him  so.  But  Cecil  never  allowed 
himself  to  take  f)frenH«!  about  words;  and  tiu^  temper  of 
his  answer,  if  it  did  not  satisfy  ]»acoii,  at  least  disarmed 
him.      Nevertheless,   thougii   he   continued    to  study   his 


1607-1609.]       LETTER  TO  THE  EARL  OF  SALISBURY.  523 

humors  and  watch  his  times,  with  a  strong  desire  to  wm  his 
confidence,  he  never  succeeded  in  acquiring  any  real  inti- 
macy. Always  on  tlie  alert  to  offer  help,  always  prompt 
and  cordial  in  acknowledging  such  favors  as  he  received, 
always  addressing  him  as  a  kinsman  naturally  interested 
in  his  fortunes,  he  never  seems  to  have  been  on  easy 
terms  or  a  clear  understanding  with  him,  but  to  have 
felt  always  that  he  was  treading  on  doubtful  ground  and 
must  advance  with  caution.  At  this  time  he  not  only 
stood  for  the  first  time  "  out  of  the  person  of  a  suitor," 
—  that  is,  in  a  position  in  which  he  had  not  any  particular 
favor  to  ask  or  expect,  —  but  he  had  for  the  first  time 
received  from  Salisbury  substantial  help  in  his  profes- 
sional advancement.  This  might  be  the  sign  of  a  change 
of  disposition,  and  if  rightly  responded  to,  the  beginning 
of  a  more  cordial  intercourse.  Might,  or  might  not. 
And  I  suppose  it  was  the  doubt  felt  by  Bacon  on  that 
point  which  guided  him  into  the  peculiar  mixture  of 
familiarity  and  formality  which  distinguishes  this  letter  : 
an  overture  of  service  and  affection,  which,  if  acceptable, 
might  help  to  bring  on  the  intimacy  he  desired  ;  if  not, 
might  pass  for  a  New  Year's  compliment.^ 
It  comes  from  Bacon's  own  collection. 

A  LETTER   TO  THE  EARL  OF   SALISBURY,    OF   COURTESY 
UPON  A  NEW  YEAR   TIDE. 

It  MAY  PLEASE  YOUR  GOOD  LORDSHIP, — Having  no 
gift  to  present  you  with  in  any  degree  proportionable  to 
my  mind,  I  desire  nevertheless  to  take  the  advantage  of 
a  ceremony  to  express  myself  to  your  Lordship ;  it  being 
the  first  time  I  could  make  the  like  acknowledgment, 
when  I  stood  out  of  the  person  of  a  suitor.  Wherefore 
I  most  humbly  pray  your  Lordship  to  think  of  me,  that 

1  "  Salisbury,"  said  Beii  Jonsoii  to  Dniininond  of  H.iwlliornden,  "never 
cared  for  any  man  lonicer  than  he  could  make  use  of  him."  B.  J.'s  Conirrs. 
■Jiith  W.  D.,  edited  by  D.  Laing  for  Sliaksp.  Society,  1842,  jj.  24. 


524  CASE  OF  THE  POST-NATI.  [Book  IV. 

now  it  hath  pleased  yon,  by  many  eft'eetual  and  great 
benefits,  to  add  the  assurance  and  comfort  of  your  love 
and  favor  to  that  precedent  disposition  which  was  in  me 
to  admire  your  virtue  and  merits,  I  do  esteem  whatsoever 
I  have  or  may  have  in  this  world  but  as  trash,  in  compar- 
ison of  having  the  honor  and  happiness  to  be  a  nejii-  and 
well  accepted  kinsman  to  so  rare  and  worthy  a  counsel- 
lor, governor,  and  patriot.  For  having  been  a  studious 
if  not  curious  observer,  as  well  of  antiquities  of  virtue 
as  late  pieces,  I  forbear  to  say  to  your  Lordship  what  I  find 
and  conceive  ;  but  to  any  other  I  would  think  to  make 
myself  believed.  But  not  to  be  tedious  (in  that  which 
may  have  the  show  of  a  compliment)  I  can  but  wish 
your  Lordship  many  happy  years ;  many  more  than  your 
father  had ;  .even  so  many  more  as  we  may  need  you 
more.     So  I  remain. 

Parliament  did  not  meet  again  in  1608,  having  been 
further  prorogued  upon  apprehension  or  pretense  of  the 
"sickness"  then  prevalent  in  London;  and  Bacon's  prin- 
cipal public  services  were  performed  in  the  Courts  and 
belong  to  tlu;  professional  department. 

Of  these  the  most  considerable  Avas  his  argument  in 
the  case  of  tiie  Post-nati,  delivered  before  tlie  Lord  Chan- 
o(?llor  and  all  tlie  Judges,  assembled  in  the  Exciiequer 
Chainl)(*r.  It  was  a  great  case,  and  arose  in  tliis  way. 
Th(;  ])r()ceedings  in  tlie  last  session  had  left  the  question 
of  Naturalization  not  only  unsettled,  but  subject  to  a 
grave  doubt  in  point  of  law:  the  Judges  having,  as  ad- 
visers of  the  Upper  House,  given  opinion  that  flic;  Post- 
nati  were  already  ipao Jure  naturalized;  while  tlu;  Lower 
House  had  resolved  that  they  were  not,  and  declined  to 
naturalize  them  by  Statute,  until  other  measures  had 
been  pass(!(l  which  must  necessarily  have  taken  a  long 
time.  This  df)ubt  alTected  tlie  rights  of  all  persons  born 
in  Scotland  within  the  live  years  last  past,  and  to  be  born 


1607-1609.]  CASE  OF  THE  POST-NATI.  525 

hereafter  ;  and  as  neither  an  extra-judicial  dechiration  of 
the  Judges  nor  a  mere  resolution  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons was  competent  to  settle  it,  it  was  a  matter  of  great 
importance  to  obtain  an  authoritative  and  conclusive 
decision.  To  procure  this,  a  grant  of  lands  in  England 
was  made  to  an  infant  born  in  Scotland  since  the  King's 
accession,  of  which  a  disseizin  having  been  effected,  an 
action  of  common  law  was  brought  by  his  guardians  to 
recover  possession,  together  with  a  suit  in  Chancery  for 
the  discovery  of  evidence.  The  decision  in  both  cases 
turned  upon  the  question  whether  he  were  an  alien  or 
no ;  and  in  both,  after  hearing,  was  "  adjourned  into  the 
Exchequer  Chamber,  to  be  argued  openly  there  ;  first  by 
the  Counsel  learned  of  either  party,  and  then  by  all  the 
Judges  of  England."  Bacon's  argument,  probably  the 
greatest  of  his  forensic  speeches,  certainly  the  most  inter- 
esting to  non-professional  readers,  appears  to  have  been 
delivered  some  time  before  Easter  Term  (which  began 
on  the  13th  of  April),  1608. 

The  result  was  a  judgment  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff, 
delivered  by  the  Lord  Chancellor  and  twelve  of  the 
Judges,  two  only  dissenting ;  a  judgment  veiy  satisfac- 
tory to  those  who  thought  with  Bacon  that  there  could 
be  no  secure  union  between  the  two  countries  without 
naturalization,  and  that  the  sooner  it  took  place  the 
better ;  for  it  settled  that  part  of  the  question  which  was 
most  important.  The  remaining  marks  of  separation 
micrht  retard  the  union  between  the  English  and  Scotch 
of  that  generation,  but  in  the  next  generation  they  would 
have  disappeared  altogether.  With  those  who  wanted 
no  such  union  and  apprehended  evil  to  England  from  this 
communication  of  privileges,  the  decision  was  of  course 
unpopular ;  for  it  imposed  upon  their  children  the  very 
state  of  things  which  they  had  refused  for  themselves, 
and  from  which  they  would  have  saved  their  posterity  if 
they  could.     That  this  unpopularity  was  so  great  and  so 


526  FOREIGN   POLICY.  [H.x^k  IV. 

general  as  to  make  it  from  that  time  "useless  to  call  upon 
Parliament  to  consider  any  measure  connected  with  the 
union,"^  is  an  imputation  upon  the  patriotism  of  the  Com- 
mons of  those  days  which  I  hope  is  unjust.  But  even  if 
the  result  of  the  proceeding  did  involve  so  grave  an  in- 
convenience, it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  Government 
could  have  avoided  it.  To  say  that  a  doubtful  question 
of  law,  involving  the  private  rights  of  innumerable  per- 
sons, ought  not  to  have  been  referred  to  the  highest  legal 
tribunal  in  the  land,  is  to  say  that  the  forms  of  judicial 
procedure  ought  to  have  been  regarded  as  useless,  and 
the  Judges  as  incompetent  for  their  function.  And  as  it 
was  never  suspected  that  any  undue  influence  was  used 
to  limit  the  freedom  of  the  defense,  or  to  bias  the  de- 
cision, it  is  strange  that  in  these  times,  when  nobody 
wishes  the  decision  reversed  or  regrets  tlie  effects  of  it, 
any  doubt  should  be  felt  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  pro- 
ceeding through  which  it  was  obtained.  "  Never  any 
case,"  says  Coke,  "  was  adjudged  in  the  Exchequer 
Chamber  with   greater  concordance  and   less  variety  of 

opinion Et  sic  determinata  et  terminata  est  ista 

qu/f'stio/' 

'llnn'O  is  anotlicr  writing  of  Bacon's  whii-h  appears  to 
have  been  composed  about  this  time,  and  (though  its 
form  and  the  use  to  which  lie  turned  it  afterwards  caused 
it  to  be  classed  among  the  literary  works)  might  i)erliap3 
with  as  much  propriety  have  been  placed  here  ;  for  there 
can  1)(!  little  doubt  that  it  was  closely  connected  with  the 
business  of  this  j)articidar  time,  and  meant  to  bear  upon 
the  solution  of  jjic  nu)st  important  state-problem  with 
whicli  tlie  statesmen  of  the  iime  had  to  deal. 

Tlie  day  had  come  when  the  ordinary  revciiiucs  of  the 
Crown  were  no  longer  adequate  to  the  ordinary  require- 
ments of  gov(Miiment.  And  tlie  day  was  fast  coming 
when  it  would  not  b(^  possible;  any  longer  to  disguise  that 
fact.     Now  if  the   King  could  not  carry  on  the  Govcrn- 

1  (iarilincr,  i.,  •i^.'i. 


1607-1G09.]  FOREIGN  POLICY.  527 

meiit  constitntionally  without  help  from  the  House  of 
Commons  wliich  the  House  might  constitutionally  refuse, 
it  followed  that  the  House  of  Commons  had  potentially 
a  veto  upon  all  the  proceedings  of  the  Government.  If 
this  be  done  (they  might  say),  or  if  that  be  not  done, 
we  shall  stop  the  supplies.  The  transfer  of  so  great  a 
power  to  new  hands,  coming  suddenly,  and  coming  (as 
it  probably  would)  with  a  struggle,  was  a  revolution 
which  could  not  be  anticipated  without  serious  apprehen- 
sion :  for  in  a  constitution  like  the  English  there  was  no 
knowing  how  much  disturbance  it  would  cause.  The 
best  chance  of  averting  or  postponing  the  discovery 
would  be  to  engage  the  country  in  some  action  which 
would  carry  the  sympathies  of  the  people  with  it.  Now 
the  pacific  character  of  James's  government  was  probably 
up  to  this  time  the  most  unpopular  thing  about  it ;  and 
though  the  time  was  happily  past  when 

"  To  win  our  ancient  right  in  France  again, 
Or  die  a  soldier  as  he  lived  a  King,"  i 

could  be  approved  by  sane  men  as  a  fit  object  of  royal 
ambition,  yet  there  were  many  questions  still  alive,  — 
questions  concerning  religion,  trade,  colonization,  etc., — 
in  which  the  English  people  would  have  been  proud  to 
see  their  Government  asserting  a  foremost  position  among 
the  nations,  and  an  English  House  of  Commons  would 
have  heartily  supported  them.  And  had  Bacon  been 
called  into  council  at  this  time,  he  would  apparently  have 
advised  a  bolder  foreign  policy  —  a  policy  aiming,  not 
indeed  at  direct  aggression,  but  at  an  assertion  of  influ- 
ence and  of  a  ri<rht  to  interfere  in  the  settlement  of  Euro- 
pean  questions.  The  occasion  and  the  manner  would  of 
course  depend  upon  the  course  of  events,  which  could  not 
be  foreseen.  But  the  prudence  of  a  general  inclination 
of  the  national  policy  in  that  direction  would  depend 
upon    the    measure    of    forces,    and    upon    the    question 

1  Richard  III.,  act  iii.,  so.  1. 


528  FOREIGN   POLICY.  [Book  iV. 

whether  England  liad  the  nieiins  of  carrying  it  out  suc- 
cessfully. To  show  that  she  might  safely  aspire  to  such 
a  position,  Bacon  now  commenced  an  elaborate  treatise, 
to  be  submitted  to  the  King,  upon  the  conditions  of  na- 
tional greatness ;  tending  to  prove  —  and  it  will  not  be 
thought  that  our  subsequent  history  has  discredited  his 
judgment  —  that  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  united 
under  one  Crown,  possessed  all  those  conditions  in  a 
liigher  degree  than  any  of  the  great  monarchies  of  the 
world  did  at  the  beginning  of  their  career ;  and  that  the 
vision  of  "  a  sun  rising  in  the  west "  was  as  likely  to  be 
verified  in  Britain  as  in  any  other  kingdom  of  Europe. 
Though  this  treatise  was  never  finished  according  to  the 
design  (probably  because  the  idea  was  not  taken,  and  the 
measures  shortly  after  adopted  by  Salisbury  were  at  vari- 
ance and  incompatible  with  it),  I  do  not  find  that  Bacon 
ever  lost  his  own  faith  in  the  opinion  v/hich  suggested  it. 
As  the  internal  disputes  which  threatened  to  divide  the 
kingdom  against  itself  grew  more  formidable,  and  exter- 
nal accidents  offered  chances  of  taking  up  the  policy 
which  he  had  indicated,  we  shall  find  him  now  and  then 
recurring  to  it ;  and  whoever  cares  to  understand  how  he 
would  have  endeavored  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation 
between  the  conflicting  interests  of  the  Crown  and  the 
Commons,  would  do  well  to  turn  to  liis  fragment  "  On  the 
True  Greatness  of  Britain,"^  and  read  it  in  connection 
with  the  Parliamentary  proceedings  of  the  last  session. 
That  it  had  a  real  connection  with  them,  will  appear  from 
some  remarkable  memoranda  in  the  paper  which  comes 
next  in  order  of  date;  a  paper  to  which  I  have  made  many 
references  already. 

To  avoid  loss  ol  tiuie  and  opportunity  horn  not  rtnnem- 

bering  things  at  tiie  moment  they  were  wanted,  Bacon 

aj>p(*ars  to  have  been  in  the  habit  of   reviewing  all  his 

businesses  from  time  to  time,  and  setting  down  in  a  note- 

1    Works,  vol.  ii.,  Part  III.,  p.  51. 


1C07-1G09.]  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  529 

book  or  on  a  sheet  of  paper  whatever  he  wished  to  have 
ready  for  recollection.  These  books  or  sheets  lie  would 
again  from  time  to  time  revise,  striking  out  such  notes 
as  were  obsolete,  and  transferring  the  others  to  a  fresh 
book.  Such  at  least  was  his  plan  of  action.  How  early 
he  began,  or  how  regularly  and  how  long  he  persevered 
in  it,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  Tbe  old  books 
would  naturally  be  destroyed  as  they  were  superseded  b}"- 
the  new,  their  contents  being  presumably  of  too 'private 
and  confidential  a  nature  in  many  parts  for  other  people's 
reading.  One  of  them,  however  (probably  because  it 
contained  among  other  things  notes  for  a  philosophical 
investigation,  which  was  never  finished),  was  preserved 
among  his  papers,  and  coming  into  the  hands  of  Arch- 
bishop Tenison,  found  a  resting-place  in  his  library  in  St. 
Martin's-in-the-Fields,  where  I  found  it.  Of  its  authen- 
ticity there  can  be  no  question,  being  written  throughout 
in  his  own  hand.  It  appears  to  have  been  the  work  of 
seven  consecutive  days  (Saturday  omitted)  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  long  vacation  of  1608 ;  the  first  page  being 
dated  July  25,  and  the  last  (except  a  page  or  two  added 
afterwards)  July  31.  The  occasion  which  led  him  at 
this  time  to  take  so  complete  a  survey  of  all  his  affairs 
was  probably  the  falling  in  of  a  considerable  addition  to 
his  fortune.  On  Saturday,  July  16,  1608,  William  Mylle, 
Clerk  of  the  Star  Chamber,  died,  and  Bacon,  who  had 
held  the  reversion  since  October,  1589,  was  sworn  in  the 
same  day.  He  reckoned  the  place  as  worth  <£  2,000  a 
year.  This,  added  to  the  profit  derived  from-  his  Solici- 
torship  and  his  wife's  fortune  (both  accessions  of  the 
year  before),  trebled  his  income,  and  made  it  a  fit  time 
to  settle  his  arrangements  for  the  future  in  accordance 
with  his  increased  means.  As  the  pages  all  bear  a  run- 
ning title  of  Tra7ispo7-tata,  that  is,  notes  transferred  from 
a  former  note-book,  I  suppose  that  he  had  looked  through 
all  the  memoranda  of  this  kind  that  he  had  by  him,  and 

VOL.  I.  34 


530  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  [Book  IV. 

gathered  whatever  he  judged  worth  keeping  into  this 
volume.  He  would  probably  alter  and  add  while  he 
transcribed,  as  well  as  omit ;  and  therefore,  though  many 
of  the  notes  may  have  been  of  older  date,  we  cannot  dis- 
tinguish the  old  from  the  new,  and  must  treat  them  gen- 
erally as  belonging  to  this  period.  He  calls  the  collection 
Conimentarius  Solutus,  which  may  be  translated  "  A  book 
of  loose  notes :  "  and  describes  it  as  "•  like  a  merchant's 
waste-book ;  where  to  enter  all  manner  of  remembrance 
of  matter,  form,  business,  study,  touching  myself,  service, 
others  ;  either  sparsim  or  in  schedules,  without  any  man- 
ner of  restraint :  only  this  to  be  divided  into  two  books : 
The  one  Transportata  ex  commentario  vetere,  containing 
all  manner  notes  already  taken  in  several  paper  books  fit 
to  be  retained  (except  it  be  such  as  are  reduced  to  some 
more  perfect  form) ;  The  other  Commentarius  novusy 
What  we  have  here  belongs  to  the  first  book  only.  Of 
the  other  I  have  not  found  any  traces  anywhere. 

He  appears  to  have  devoted  the  first  day  to  the  setting 
down  of  everything  he  could  think  of  for  the  husbanding 
of  his  income,  the  improvement  of  his  fortunes,  and  the 
arrangement  of  bis  business  ;  how  to  have  command  of 
ready  money  in  case  he  wanttd  it ;  how  to  maintain  and 
increase  his  credit  with  the  King  and  the  Earl  of  Salis- 
bury (now  Lord  Treasurer)  by  acceptable  service ;  what 
subjects  to  att(Mul  to,  what  advices  to  olTer,  what  cases  to 
be  prepared  in  ;  how  to  increase  his  practice,  and  draw 
business  to  liis  own  office;  what  suits  to  move  for  him- 
self, and  how  to  give  evitlence  of  liis  superiority  to  com- 
petitors in  diligence,  zeal,  and  capacity  ;  how  to  improve 
liis  personal  acquaintance  with  the  King  and  the  great 
ccmncillors,  and  esfx-cially  how  to  make  himself  useful 
and  agrecabhi  to  Salisbury ;  what  arrangements  to  niaUc 
for  the  better  ailniiiiistration  of  his  new  ofiicf,  and  how 
to  meet  anticipate<l  objections;  what  preparations  to 
make   for  the  next   Parliament;   what   nieasui'es  to  take 


1607-1609.]  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  531 

for  the  improvement  of  his  lands  and  leases,  and  for  the 
regulation  of  his  household;  Avhat  houses  to  think  of  for 
his  dwelling  (being  now  in  want  of  a  dwelling-place  in 
the  neighborhood  of  London,  fitter  for  his  new  condition 
than  his  chambers  in  Gray's  Inn),  and  other  matters  of 
the  same  kind.  After  which  he  proceeds  to  review  the 
contents  of  his  cabinet,  and  reconsider  the  distribution 
and  order  of  his  various  books  and  papers ;  namely,  five 
books  of  compositions,  four  of  notes  relating  to  ""yhe  same, 
nine  on  matters  connected  with  his  profession,  four  on 
matters  connected  with  his  office,  five  relating  to  his  per- 
sonal affairs.  And  this  appears  to  have  been  his  first 
day's  work,  Monday,  —  25th  July. 

On  Tuesday,  after  suggesting  to  himself  a  more  con- 
venient arrangement  of  some  of  his  note-books,  he  turns 
his  attention  to  the  fortunes  of  the  Great  Instauration  ; 
but  this  also  in  the  way  of  business  and  management. 
The  great  object  being  to  get  help  of  able  and  influential 
persons  in  the  furtherance  of  the  work,  he  begins  by  con- 
sideiing  who  are  likely  to  take  an  interest  in  it,  and  how 
they  may  be  attracted.  The  King  he  had  already  ap- 
pealed to  in  the  "  Advancement  of  Learning,"  and  as 
there  is  no  allusion  to  him  here  in  connection  with  it,  I 
suppose  he  had  satisfied  himself  that  there  was  no  hope 
of  effectual  help  from  that  quarter.  The  Prince  was  still 
a  boy,  but  something  might  perhaps  be  made  of  him  in 
due  time.  Now  Sir  David  Murray  was  keeper  of  hi.s 
privy  purse,  and  Sir  Thomas  Chaloner  had  the  charge  of 
his  person  and  household.  Sir  Thomas  was  an  old  ac- 
quaintance of  Bacon's  own,  and  though  he  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  known  Sir  David,  he  knew  a  man  of  the 
name  of  Russell  who  "depended  upon  him,"  —  a  man 
skilled  in  distillations,  separations,  and  "  mineral  trials," 
who,  if  he  could  be  interested  in  the  cause,  might  be  a 
means  of  interesting  the  others.  Then  there  was  Sir 
Walter  Ralegh,  whose  activity,  confined  within  the  walls 


532  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  [Book  IV. 

of  tlie  Tower,  found  exercise  in  experiments  of  chemis- 
try ;  and  along  with  him  the  Eai'l  of  Northumberland,  a 
professed  patron  of  learning ;  both  of  them  intimately 
connected  with  Thomas  Harriot,  tlie  great  mathemati- 
cian; valuable  allies  all,  if  tliey  could  be  procured.  Who 
else?  The  men  whose  profession  brought  them  most 
into  contact  Avith  natural  science  were  the  physicians  ; 
though  for  the  most  part  they  kept  the  beaten  way,  and 
stood  by  the  received  rules  of  their  art.  William  Har- 
vey, a  young  man  of  thirty,  had  been  elected  the  year 
before  a  fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians,  and  was  ris- 
ing into  distinction.  But  the  great  discovery  which  has 
made  liis  name  so  famous  was  of  much  later  date,  and 
if  Bacon  was  acquainted  with  him  at  this  time,  of  which 
I  find  no  evidence,  he  could  not  hope  for  much  help 
or  sympathy  from  so  ortliodox  an  Aristotelian.  The 
likeliest  he  could  think  of  that  day  were  Paddy  and 
Hammond,  the  Court  physicians,  whose  names  will  per- 
haps be  remembered  hereafter  in  connection  witli  that 
note  ;  though  I  do  not  find  that  anything  came  of  it. 
Meantime  Russell  (the  man  of  distillations  and  separa- 
tions already  mentioned)  and  Poe  (who  was  Salisbury's 
physician)  miglit  help  him  with  collections  of  experi- 
ments in  their  art,  and  (being  judiciously  cultivated) 
with  information  as  to  the  tastes  of  such  gi'eat  jicrsons  as 
they  attended.  Then  for  men  of  general  learning,  there 
was  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  —  "single,"  there- 
ff)re  a  man  whose  means  were  available  for  public  ob- 
jects ;  "  glorious,"  therefore;  one  who  might  be  attra,cted 
l<y  the  greatness  of  the;  enterprise,  and  "believing  the 
t^eiise,"  that  is  (T  sui)pos(!)  willing  to  learn  fi-oni  nature 
and  expei-ien(M',  as  well  as  from  tin;  schools.  Could  any 
inipr<'ssion  be  made  ii|inii  Iiim?  Bishop  Andrciwes  had 
already  shown  himself  interc^sted  in  l>a<-on's  g(Mi(>ra.l  spec- 
ulations, and  was  <o  some  exti-nt,  it  seems,  a  believer  in 
experiment,      lie   h:iil  wcaltli  to  hestow,  and  being  single 


1607-1609.]  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  533 

might  bestow  it  on  mankind ;  was  obvioush%  therefore, 
a  man  to  be  engaged  if  possible  in  the  great  work, 
"  Learned  men  beyond  seas  "  were  also  to  be  thought  of, 
but  no  name  is  suggested.  Nor  does  he  appear  to  have 
been  able  to  tliink  of  any  one  else  in  particular,  upon 
whom  he  could  count  as  yet  for  effectual  assistance  by 
wit  or  purse  or  power  or  sympathy,  unless  it  were  his 
own  nephew  Edmund  Bacon,  eldest  son  of  his  half- 
brother  Sir  Nicholas,  who  seems  to  have  shown  a  taste 
for  science,  and  whose  acquaintance  he  begins  by  remind- 
ing himself  to  cultivate. 

So  far,  the  prospect  did  not  seem  very  encouraging. 
The  bell  he  had  rung  "to  call  other  wits  togetlier  "  had 
attracted  but  a  small  company.  Yet  the  work,  though 
it  might  be  designed  by  one  man,  could  not  be  accom  • 
plished,  nor  even  materially  advanced,  without  the  co- 
operation of  many  ;  and  means  must  be  thought  of  to 
find  them,  and  draw  them  in.  This  was  to  be  done  in 
two  ways :  one,  by  appealing  to  men's  reason  and  imag- 
ination through  a  general  exposition  of  the  grounds  of 
hope,  and  a  general  indication  of  the  results  that  might 
be  hoped  for  ;  the  other,  by  exhibiting  (if  possible)  a 
sample  of  the  work  itself,  in  some  one  positive  and  sub- 
stantial discovery,  made  out  by  patiently  following  the 
true  method  of  inquiry  through  all  its  processes  to  its 
legitimate  conclusion. 

With  a  view  to  the  first  of  these,  he  had  already  com- 
posed his  "  Cogitata  et  Visa,"  which  traverses  all  the 
ground,  and  he  must  think  of  the  fittest  persons  to  whom 
he  should  "impart"  them.  Upon  which  thought  follows 
a  page  of  notes  for  points  to  be  remembered  in  treating 
that  argument,  and  queries  as  to  the  best  way  of  settino- 
it  forth  ;  in  which  it  is  easy  to  trace  the  germ  of  several 
lubsequent  writings,  which,  passing  through  various  in- 
termediate forms,  developed  at  last  into  the  first  book  of 
the  "Novum  Organum."     But  the  "Cogitata  et  Visa" 


534  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  [Book  IV. 

was  designed  to  be  an  introduction  to  a  specimen  of  the 
true  method  applied^  and  resulting  in  some  "  axiom ; " 
and  for  this  purpose  he  had  selected  three  special  sub- 
jects of  investigation :  IMotion,  Heat  and  Cold,  and  Sound. 
The  appearance  of  vibration  perceptible  in*  the  common 
actions  of  heat  and  sound  had  probably  suggested  to  him 
that  they  were  modes  of  motion  ;  and  that  if  we  could 
thoroughly  understand  the  nature  of  motion  itself  we 
should  have  the  master-key  to  all  such  mysteries.  Of 
these  three  subjects  he  had  begun  to  make  what  he  called 
"  tables  ;  "  that  is,  collections  of  phenomena  classified  ac- 
cording to  his  idea  of  the  true  method  —  t\\e  FilumLahy- 
rinthi.  And  it  would  be  well  to  postpone  his  attempt  to 
draw  in  the  Bishops  till  one  or  other  of  these  were  "  in 
some  forwardness." 

But  this  was  only  for  an  example  of  the  way  in  which 
the  woi-k  must  be  done ;  the  way  in  which  the  materials 
when  gathered  must  be  used.  How  to  procure  help  to- 
wards the  collection  of  the  materials  was  to  be  thought 
of.  Two  portions,  as  of  most  value  for  his  purposes,  ap- 
pear to  have  been  uppermost  in  his  mind  that  day  :  1st, 
a  history  of  marvels,  that  is  of  nature  erring  or  varying 
from  her  usual  course  ;  for  "  from  the  wonders  of  na- 
ture is  the  nearest  passage  and  intelligence  towards  the 
wonders  of  art,"  and  "it  is  no  more  but  by  following, 
and  as  it  were  houndiufr,  nature  in  her  wandering's,  to  be 
able  to  lead  her  back  to  the  same  place  again  ;"^  and 
2d,  a  history  of  the  observations  and  experiments  of  all 
mechanical  arts;  for  "like  as  a  man's  disposition  is  never 
well  known  till  it  be  cro.ssed,  nor  Proteus  ever  changed 
Bhapes  till  Ik?  was  straitened  and  held  fast,  so  the  pas- 
liages  and  variations  of  nature  cannot  appear  so  fully  in 
the  liberty  of  nature  as  in  the  trials  and  vexations  of 
art.""'^  But  how  were  such  histories  to  be  obtained?  Not 
without  "command  of  wits  and  pens."    Could  he  himself 

'  Advancement  nf  Lenrninij.  2  Ibid. 


1607-1609.]  PRIVATE  MELAIORANDA.  535 

get  transferred  to  some  office  which  would  give  it?  Some 
office  of  authorit}^  for  instance,  in  some  place  devoted  to 
learning.  And  then  he  thought  of  Westminster,  Eton, 
Winchester,  Trinity  or  St.  John's  in  Cambridge,  Mag- 
dalen in  Oxford ;  and  of  bespeaking  some  appointment 
of  the  kind  betimes,  with  the  King  and  the  chancellors 
of  the  two  universities,  namely,  Archbishop  Bancroft 
and  Salisbury.  Could  he  in  the  mean  time,  by  his  per- 
sonal authority,  awaken  a  hope  and  zeal  in  that  direction, 
inspiring  confidence  in  others  by  assuming  it  himself, 
like  a  prophet  who  comes  in  his  own  name  ?  Could  he 
do  anything  with  the  young  scholars  in  the  universities? 
for  "  it  must  be  the  post-nati,'^  and  not  the  grown-up 
generation,  from  whom  his  help  should  come.  How  if 
pensions  could  be  assigned  to  a  certain  number  of  per- 
sons, that  they  might  devote  themselves  to  the  work  ? 
Or  how  if  a  college  could  be  erected  for  the  special  study 
of  the  art  of  invention  ?  —  a  college  furnished  with  all 
the  requisite  appliances,  books,  engines,  vaults,  furnaces, 
terraces,  worksliops,  allowances  for  travelling  and  experi- 
ments, arrangements  for  intelligence  and  correspond- 
ence with  the  universities  abroad,  orders  and  regulations 
("  mixed  with  some  points  popular,  to  invite  many  to 
contribute  and  join  "),  honors  and  rewards  to  excite  am- 
bition ;  as,  for  instance,  galleries  "  with  statues  of  in- 
ventors past,  and  spaces  or  bases  for  inventors  to  come," 
waiting  for  the  deserver  ;  a  rudiment,  in  short,  of  Solo- 
mon's House  ? 

But  all  these  things  depended  on  cooperation,  and  the 
immediate  business  was  to  get  on  with  that  part  of  the 
vork  which  one  man  could  do.  And  then  he  proceeded 
to  set  down  the  scheme  of  a  complete  investigation,  In- 
quisitio  legltima.  '■''  Inquisitio  legitima  de  3Iotu,''  he  had 
written  first ;  but  thinking  it  better  to  begin  with  the 
plan  of  a  true  inquiry  in  general,  —  the  general  form  to 
be  used  in  all  inquiries  alike,  —  he  struck  out  de  Jlotu^ 


536  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  [Book  IV. 

and  finished  his  day's  work  with  a  list  set  out  in  order,  of 
the  titles  of  the  several  sections  and  articles  into  which 
such  an  inquiry  distributed  itself. 

On  Wednesday  he  addresses  himself  to  the  particular 
subject  of  Motion,  and  sets  down  all  the  heads  of  inquiry 
he  can  think  of;  which  fill  eleven  pages  of  the  manu- 
script ;  a  curious  piece  of  labor,  and  interesting  as  a 
specimen  of  his  manner  of  proceeding  at  that  time  in 
such  investigations,  and  as  an  evidence  of  the  hopefulness 
of  his  nature,  which  could  look  without  despair  upon  the 
problem  which  presented  itself ;  but  otherwise,  I  sup- 
pose, not  now  of  any  value. 

Having  thus  devoted  Monday  to  his  own  fortunes, 
Tuesday  and  Wednesday  to  the  fortunes  of  the  human 
race,  he  turns  on  Thursday  to  the  consideration  of  the 
fortunes  of  his  country.  Among  the  subjects  which  he 
had  noted  on  the  first  day  as  to  be  borne  in  mind  in  cor- 
responding with  Salisbury,  one  was  (if  I  have  interpreted 
the  abbreviated  words  rightly)  tlu^  twofold  policy  to  be 
pursued  in  regard  to  "empty  coffers  and  alienation  of 
the  people;"  how  to  find  means  to  replenish  the  ex- 
chequer without  entering  on  courses  which  would  excite 
popular  odium.  And  this  appears  to  have  been  the  sub- 
ject of  his  meditation  on  Thursday  morning.  It  was,  no 
doubt,  the  Sphinx's  riddle  of  the  day,  upon  the  solution 
of  which  followed  sovereignty,  upon  the  failure  to  solve 
it  civil  war.  His  meditations  took  the  form  of  notes  for 
some  memorial  of  advice,  but  of  so  private  and  confiden- 
tial a  nature  that  he  seems  to  have  been  unwilling  to 
confide  it  even  to  his  private  note-book.  For  whereas 
the  notes  of  the  last  day  and  tin;  day  before,  though 
short,  are  written  so  as  to  be  intelligible  to  anybody,  the 
notes  for  this  political  memorial  or  meditation  or  what- 
ever it  was  to  be,  are  set  down  so  obscurely  that  their 
import  can  only  be  guessed  at  here  and  there,  and  I  sup- 
pose nobody  but  himself  could  have  supplied  a  full  inter- 


1607-1609.]  PRIVATE  5IEM0RANDA.  537 

pretation.  Thus  much,  however,  may  be  collected  from 
them,  that  the  problem  he  was  considering  was  how  best 
to  avoid  the  danger  which  thi'eatened  the  Crown  from  the 
poverty  of  the  exchequer ;  and  that  the  particular  danger 
which  he  apprehended  was  a  revolt  in  Scotland.  He 
then  proceeds  to  note  "  the  greatness  of  some  particular 
subjects "  or  bodies,  including  the  Privy  Council,  the 
Lower  House  in  Parliament,  and  the  nobility  of  Scot- 
land ;  but  whether  as  elements  of  the  danger,  or  resources 
for  encountering  it,  does  not  clearly  appear.  He  thinks 
of  the  office  of  Lieutenant-Constable,  in  connection  ap- 
parently with  the  possible  "  absence  of  the  Prince,  if  he 
come  to  the  Crown,  by  wars."  He  speculates  upon  "  con- 
federacy and  more  strait  amity  with  the  Low  Countries," 
with  an  aim,  I  imagine,  to  prepare  for  a  bolder  and  more 
active  foreign  polic}^.  Then  he  turns  to  internal  reforms : 
the  "limitation  of  jurisdictions,"  with  a  view,  no  doubt, 
to  quiet  the  disputes  between  the  several  courts  of  jus- 
tice, which  in  this  season  of  peace  were  disturbing  the 
tranquillity  of  the  country  ;  the  compounding  and  col- 
lection of  new  laws ;  the  "  restoration  of  the  Church  to 
the  true  limits  of  authority  since  Henry  VIH.'s  con- 
fusion ;  all  measures  fit  to  occupy  the  attention  of  Par- 
liament, and  divert  it  from  the  struggle  with  the  Crown 
for  power.  It  seems  also  as  if  he  had  thought  of  recom- 
mending some  abatement  of  the  pretensions  of  the  Crown 
itself,  and  inspiring  the  King  with  an  ambition  to  seek 
his  greatness  in  establishing  a  more  popular  form  of  gov- 
ernment ;  for  he  speaks  of  "  books  in  commendation  of 
monarchy  mixed,  or  aristocracy,"  and  of  "persuading  the 
King  in  glory,  Aurea  condet  scecula.""  Then  follows 
something  about  the  choice  of  fit  persons  to  be  assured, 
something  which  I  think  must  refer  to  an  aspiration  he 
had  conceived  of  succeeding  himself  to  Salisbury's  late 
cjffice  of  Secretary  ;  and  something  about  winning  Salis- 
bury "  to  the  point  of  policy  "  —  meaning,  probably,  tho 


538  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  [Book  IV. 

policy  for  avoiding  popular  disaffection  ("  Siirdis  mo- 
dis"  he  adds,  '•'■cave  aliter^^').  But  the  meditation  con- 
cludes with  a  memorandum  to  "  finish  his  treatise  of  the 
greatness  of  Britain,  with  aspect,  ad  Pol."  (which  means, 
I  suppose,  with  reference  to  the  policy  which  the  time 
required),  and  with  the  two  following  notes,  which  seem 
to  explain  intelligibly  enough  what  that  policy  was.  The 
letters  within  brackets  are  inserted  by  conjectui'e. 

"The  fairest,  without  dis [order]  or  per[il]  is  the  gen- 
cr[al]  persuad[ing]  to  K.  and  peop[le]  and  course  of  in- 
fusing everywhere  the  foundat[ion]  in  this  Isle  of  a 
Mon[archy]  in  the  West,  as  an  apt  seat,  state,  people  for 
it.  So  civilizing  Ireland,  furder  coloniz[ing]  the  wild  of 
Scotl[and],  Annexing  the  Low  Countries. 

"If  anything  be  questio[ned]  touch[ing]  Pol[icy]  to 
be  turned  upon  the  ampliation  of  a  mon[archy]  in  the 
Royalty." 

The  best  way,  in  short,  to  avoid  the  danger  of  popular 
discontent,  concurring  with  dependence  of  the  Crown 
upon  popular  support,  was  for  the  Crown  to  put  itself  at 
the  head  of  some  movement  which  should  carry  the  sym- 
pathy and  ambition  of  the  people  along  with  it.  Tlie 
wars  with  Spain  in  Elizabeth's  time,  and  the  bountiful 
loyalty  which  rushed, to  James's  assistance  upon  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  had  proved  how  rapidly 
distastes  and  disputes  could  be  forgotten  under  the  ex- 
citement of  a  common  passion  ;  and  a  few  years  more 
showed,  in  tlu^  ready  opening  of  tin;  iiiitioiuil  j)nrs(^  upon 
the  ])romise  of  a  war  for  the  recovery  of  tUa  Palatinate, 
that  (ivcn  when  tlie  disease  had  advanced  much  further 
the  elHcacy  of  that  remedy  might  still  be  trusted. 

Having  concluded  his  meditations  ii|)on  th(!  ])olitical 
dilliculty,  lu;  appeal's  to  have  reHt(-(l  for  a  while;.  K(!tLirn- 
ing  presently  to  his  work,  and  having  first  set  down  a 
few  "  f(U-ms,"  as  he  calhid  them  —  thoughts  neatly  ex- 
pressed, which  had,  perhaps,  occurred  to  him  in  the  in- 


1607-1609.]  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  539 

terval  —  and  a  few  memoranda  concerning  liis  business 
and  the  improvement  of  his  fortunes,  similar  to  those 
which  occupied  him  on  Monday,  he  turns  to  the  condi- 
tion of  his  own  dwelling  at  Gorhambury,  which  since  his 
father's  death  had  been  allowed,  owing  to  his  brother's 
long  absence  and  absorbing  occupations  and  want  of  more 
than  all  his  money  for  other  things,  to  fall  out  of  repair. 
Having  now  a  fair  prospect  of  an  ample  income,  he  could 
afford  to  commence  the  trimming  of  his  grounds  accord- 
ing to  his  taste;  and  he  begins  with  "directions  for  a 
plot  to  turn  the  pond-^^ard  into  a  place  of  pleasure,"  by 
enclosing  and  laying  it  out  in  broad  walks  and  terraces, 
with  banks  and  borders  set  with  choice  trees  and  flowers, 
and  a  lake  in  the  middle  with  several  islands  in  it,  vari- 
ously furnished  and  adorned  for  rest,  exercise,  and  refresh- 
ment, and  pleasure  of  eye,  ear,  smell,  taste,  and  spirits. 
The  design  (which  is  written  out  without  any  abbrevi- 
ations or  obscurities,  and  in  minute  detail)  appears  to 
have  been,  in  part  at  least,  carried  out ;  for  it  was  in  the 
neighborhood  and  view  of  these  ponds  that  he  afterwards 
built  Verulam  House,  his  favorite  residence  for  summer. 

After  a  few  more  memoranda  of  improvements  to  be 
made  or  thought  of,  which  (with  one  exception  to  be  no- 
ticed afterwards)  I  need  not  particularize,  he  proceeds  to 
Memorice  Valetudinis,  —  remembrances  and  observations 
concerning  his  own  health :  a  curious  and  minute  record 
of  a  contest  with  indigestion,  and  of  the  effects  of  it, 
bodily  and  mental.  These  also  are  written  out  quite 
fully  and  intelligibly,  and  may  be  read  in  the  original 
without  help.  To  medical  men  they  may  probably  be 
interesting  as  a  record  of  symptoms  according  to  the  pa- 
tient's own  interpretation  of  his  own  sensations,  and  as 
revealing,  through  the  better  light  of  modern  science,  the 
real  state  of  Bacon's  case  and  constitution.  Unprofes- 
sional readers  will  be  content  with  inferring  that  he  suf- 
fered much  from  what  we  now  call  dyspepsia,  accoiu- 


540  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  [Book  TV 

panied  with  a  very  sensitive  nervous  S3^steni,  through 
which  it  affected  the  imagination.  Knowing  to  what  the 
disturbance  was  due,  lie  did  not  yield  to  the  delusion ; 
but  the  disorder  to  which  he  continually  refers  under  the 
name  of  "  his  symptom,"  is  described  as  "  melancholy," 
"doubt  of  present  peril,"  "strangeness  in  beholding 
and  darksomeness,"  "inclination  to  superstition,"  "cloudi- 
ness," etc. ;  and  must,  I  think,  have  been  an  affection 
of  the  same  kind  as  that  from  which  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
after  his  great  troubles  came  upon  him,  suffered  occasion- 
ally. The  resemblance  of  the  description  in  the  two  cases 
is  indeed  in  some  respects  so  striking  that  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  place  them  side  by  side. 

"  I  have  hinted  in  these  notes  "  (writes  Scott  in  his 
Diary,  March  13,  1826)  "that  I  am  not  entirely  free 
from  a  sort  of  gloomy  fits,  with  a  fluttering  of  the  heart 
and  depression  of  spirits,  just  as  if  I  knew  not  what  w^as 
going  to  befall  me.  I  can  sometimes  resist  this  success- 
fully, but  it  is  better  to  evade  than  combat  it."  Again, 
on  the  14th,  "  What  a  detestable  feeling  this  fluttering  of 
the  heart  is !  I  know  that  it  is  nothing  organic  and  that 
it  is  entirely  nervous  ;  but  the  sickening  effects  of  it  are 
dispiriting  to  a  degree.  Is  it  the  body  that  brings  it  to  the 
mind,  or  the  mind  that  inflicts  upon  the  body  ?  "  And 
again,  later  in  the  same  day  apparently,  "  It  was  the 
fiddle,  after  all,  was  out  of   order,  not  the  fiddlestick.     I 

walked  out Since  I  luid  scarce  stirred  to  take  ex- 

(jrcise  for  four  or  five  days,  no  wonder  I  had  the  mulli- 
grubs. It  is  an  awful  sensation  though,  and  would  have 
made  an  enthusiast  of  me  if  I  had  indulged  my  imagina- 
tion on  devotional  subjects.  1  have  been  always  careful 
to  place  my  mind  in  the  most  tranquil  j)Osture  which  ic 
can  assunu;  during  my  private  exercises  of  devotion." 

Though  Bacon  does  not  mention  any  "  fluttering  of  the 
heart,"  the  effect  on  the  mind  and  spirits,  the  "inclina- 
tion to  superstition,  and  doubt  of  present  peril,"  seems 


1607-1609.]  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  541 

to  have  been  the  same.  But  in  one  respect  there  is 
a  singular  and  unexpected  contrast  between  the  cases. 
The  attack  which  led  Scott  to  mention  it  came  upon 
him  when  he  was  surrounded  with  melancholy  circuni- 
stjinces,  —  his  fortune  going  backward,  his  wife  dying, 
his  preparations  for  removal  from  Abbotsford  ;  whereas  it 
was  upon  the  amendment  of  his  fortune  that  Bacon  seems 
chiefly  to  have  experienced  tliese  sensations.  "  I  have 
found  "  (he  writes)  "  now  twice  upon  amendment  of  my 
fortune,  disposition  to  melancholy  and  distaste,  especially 
the  same  happening  against  the  long  vacation  when  com- 
pany failed  and  business  both ;  for  upon  my  solicitor's 
place,  I  grew  indisposed  and  inclined  to  superstition. 
Now,  upon  Mill's  place,  I  find  a  relapse  unto  my  old 
symptom,  as  I  was  wont  to  have  it  many  years  ago,  as 
after  sleeps,  strife  at  meats,  strangeness,  clouds,"  etc. 

I  am  not  sure  that  I  know  what  he  means  by  "  after 
sleeps,"  but  there  is  another  note  concerning  a  habit  of 
sleeping  out  of  season,  which  affords  a  striking  illustra- 
tion (though  few  people,  I  suppose,  will  think  it  a  strange 
one)  of  the  tyranny  of  the  body  over  the  mind,  even 
where  the  desire  to  resist  it  is  unquestionably  sincere.  "  I 
do  find  (he  says)  nothing  to  induce  stopping  more,  and  to 
fill  the  head  and  to  induce  languishing  and  distaste  and 
feverous  disposition,  more,  I  say,  than  any  manner  of 
offer  to  sleep  at  afternoon,  either  immediately  after  din- 
ner or  at  four  of  clock.  And  I  could  never  yet  find  res- 
olution and  strength  in  myself  to  inhibit  it."  ^ 

The  Memorice  FrtZe^itt^mes  being  finished,  he  proceeds  — 
still  on  the  same  day  —  to  draw  up  a  complete  inventory 
of  his  property,  real  and  personal,  with  all  particulars,  — 
land,  woods,  houses,  fees,  oflSces,  plate  and  jewels,  debts, 
expectations,  —  everything  ;  each  item  separately  valued 
by  estimate  or  by  actual  return,  both  as  to  its  present 

1  Sir  W.  Scott  also  mentions  in  his  Diary  the  falling  asleep  for  a  few  min- 
utes in  his  chair,  as  a  habit  which  grows  upon  him  more  than  he  could  m  ish. 


642  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  [Book  IV. 

selling  yalue  and  as  to  its  annual  proceeds.  At  the  end 
of  the  account  he  finds  his  property  of  all  kinds  worth 
("as  m  pretio  to  be  sold")  .£24,155,  and  in  annual  rev- 
enue <£4,975.  To  be  set  off  against  which,  he  further 
finds  that  his  debts  of  all  kinds  amount  to  £4,481,  of 
which  those  bearing  interest  rise  to  X 2,925.  The  rate  of 
interest  is  not  stated,  nor  is  any  estimate  set  dowii  of  the 
annual  charge  with  which  his  income  was  burdened  on 
that  account.  But  at  10  per  cent,  it  would  be  a  little 
under  £300. 

Having  thus  made  out  the  present  state  of  his  property 
as  exactly  as  he  could,  he  returns  once  more  to  politics 
and  business.  One  of  the  first  memoranda  which  he  had 
set  down  on  the  25th,  was  the  "being  prepared  in  the 
matter  of  prohibitions,"  —  which  was  a  dispute  of  con- 
siderable constitutional  importance  between  the  Courts 
at  Westminster  and  the  Provincial  Councils  in  Wales  and 
the  North,  as  to  their  several  jurisdiction.  On  this  sub- 
ject, and  some  others,  especially  the  course  to  be  taken 
with  Papists  and  Recusants,  the  King  had  held  a  special 
conference  with  some  of  the  juilges  as  long  ago  as  the 
15th  of  February,  1607-8  ;  of  the  effect  of  which  Bacon 
(who  attended  no  doubt  as  Solicitor  General  and  one  of 
the  Learned  Counsel)  had  made  a  note  at  the  time.  This 
note  he  now  transcribes  at  length,  and  as  the  report  of  a 
more  than  ordinarily  competent  eye-witness  on  matters 
wliicli  history  still  discusses  with  eager  interest,  it  has  a 
hist(»ri(,';d  value. 

After  this  follow  some  notes  of  the  same  kind  as  those 
with  which  he  occupied  himself  on  INIonday :  remem- 
brances of  points  to  b(!  observed  in  his  course  of  official 
service,  with  a  view  not  oidy  to  get  the  work  effectually 
done,  but  to  make  it  show  to  the  best  advantage,  and 
recommend  him  personally  to  favor  and  advancement. 
Now,  u[)on  some  of  the  practices  which  he  here  suggests 
and  picscribes  to  himself,  a  question  may  be  justly  raised 


1G07-1C09.]  PRIVATE  5IEM0RANDA  543 

how  fur  such  an  intention  is  consistent  with  a  sound  mo- 
rality. And  though  my  office  is  to  report  facts  and  not 
to  deliver  censures,  and  I  prefer  for  ray  own  part  to  post- 
pone judgment  until  the  case  is  all  before  rae,  it  may  be 
well  perhaps  to  interpose  a  caution  or  two  for  the  consid- 
eration of  those  who  cannot  wait  so  long. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  then,  that  we  see  here  not 
only  thoughts  and  intentions  half  formed  and  imperfectly 
explained,  but  we  see  the  seamy  side  of  them,  which  in 
other  cases  is  kept  out  of  view.  Bacon  liked  to  call 
things  by  their  true  names ;  and  if  he  ever  thought  fit  to 
deceive  his  neighbor,  did  not  think  fit  to  deceive  himself 
by  disguising  the  real  nature  of  the  act  under  a  euphe- 
mism. Now,  most  of  the  little  arts  of  social  intercourse 
which  are  practiced  generally  and  with  general  approba- 
tion under  the  gracious  names  of  tact,  good-breeding,  and 
the  like,  are  in  fact  modes  of  concealing  truth  or  convey- 
ing falsehood.  A  man  who  pretends  to  be  listening  with 
earnest  interest  to  a  story  which  does  not  interest  him  at 
all,  and  to  which  he  is  in  fact  not  listening,  means  no 
doubt  to  deceive  the  story-teller.  A  man  who  affects  to 
be  sorry  that  he  cannot  do  a  thing  which  he  is  at  the  very 
time  delighted  to  find  a  plausible  excuse  for  refusing  to 
do,  means  no  doubt  to  deceive  the  proposer.  The  inter- 
course of  a  civilized  man  with  those  whom  he  wishes  to 
stand  well  with  is  rarely  free  from  acts,  deliberately  in- 
tended and  executed,  which  cannot  be  truly  described 
without  epithets  which  no  man  likes  to  hear  applied  to 
any  acts  of  his  own.  The  consequence  is  that  they  never, 
or  very  rarely,  are  truly  described.  When  such  things 
are  done  purely  for  the  sake  of  others  —  to  avoid  giving 
others  pain  —  they  are  not  called  or  thought  wrong  at  all, 
but  counted  among  the  minor  virtues.  Even  when  done 
for  a  man's  own  benefit,  if  it  be  for  an  end  which  is  itself 
fair  and  reputable  and  unattainable  otherwise,  —  such  as 
»,  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons,  —  they  are  at  least 


544  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  [Book  IV. 

freely  allowed :  a  man  is  not  thought  worse  of  for  being 
known  to  have  done  such  things,  and  probably  would  be 
thought  worse  of,  at  least  by  one  party,  if  he  lost  his 
election  through  a  conscientious  determination  to  abstain 
from  them,  —  a  conscientious  determination,  for  instance, 
to  exhibit  in  his  canvass  or  on  the  hustings  no  emotion 
which  he  did  not  feel.  But  in  all  tliese  cases  society- 
makes  a  compromise  between  its  interests  and  its  princi- 
ples by  looking  only  at  the  outside  of  the  transaction  and 
ignoring  its  true  name  and  real  nature.  If,  therefore,  we 
are  to  make  a  just  comparison  between  Bacon's  morality 
and  other  men's  or  our  own,  we  must  do  one  of  two 
things.  We  must  either  look  only  at  the  outward  face 
of  his  actions,  without  reference  to  the  true  names  which 
he  gave  them  in  his  note-book,  or  we  must  supply  the 
true  names  of  our  own  and  not  look  at  the  outward  face 
only.  It  does  not  much  matter  which  we  do;  and  upon 
a  comparison  made  either  way,  I  doubt  whether  it  will 
appear  from  any  evidence  supplied  by  this  book  that  in 
such  matters  he  permitted  himself  a  greater  license  in 
practice  than  is  still  the  fashion  among  respectable  men 
of  business,  or  than  he  was  himself  in  theory  prepared  to 
avow  and  justify.  His  theory  he  has  himself  explained 
in  a  book  which  was  meant  to  last  and  bear  witness. 
Speaking  in  the  "  Advancement  of  Learning"  of  certain 
C(jurses  imputed  to  some  learned  men  wliich  he  admits  to 
be  "  base  and  unworthy,"  he  makes  a  special  reservation 
in  favor  of  one  class,  and  into  tliat  class  the  practices 
reveaU'd  in  tlit'se  notes  whicli  will  jtrobably  be  selected  as 
most  questionable  will  be  found  to  fall. 

"  Not  (he  says)  that  I  can  tax  or  condemn  the  morig- 
eratir)n  or  aj)i)lication  of  learned  men  to  men  in  fortune. 
For  the  answer  was  good  that  Diogenes  made  to  one  that 
asked  him  in  nuxrkcry  Ifoiv  it  came  to  pass  that  philos- 
ophers were  the  fulloivers  of  rieh  meti,  and  not  rich  men 
yf  philosophers  ?     He  answered  soberly  and  yet  sharply, 


1607-1609.]  PRIVATE  MEMORAXDA.  545 

Because  the  one  sort  kneiv  what  they  had  need  of  and  the 
other  did  not.  And  of  the  like  nature  was  the  answer 
which  Aristippus  made,  when,  having  a  petition  to  Dio- 
nysius  and  no  eax-  given  to  him,  he  fell  down  at  his  feet, 
whereupon  Dionysius  stayed  and  gave  him  the  hearing 
and  granted  it ;  and  afterward  some  person  tender  on  the 
behalf  of  philosophy  reproved  Aristippus  that  he  would 
offer  the  profession  of  philosophy  such  an  indignity  as  for 
a  private  suit  to  fall  at  a  tyrant's  feet :  but  he  answered 
That  it  was  not  his  fault  hut  it  was  the  fault  of  Dionysius, 
that  had  his  ears  in  his  feet.  Neither  was  it  accounted 
weakness,  but  discretion,  in  him  that  would  not  dispute 
his  best  with  Adrianus  Ccesar ;  excusing  himself.  That  it 
teas  reason  to  yield  to  him  that  commanded  thirty  legions. 
These  and  the  like  applications  and  stooping  to  points 
of  necessity  and  convenience  cannot  be  disallowed ;  for 
though  they  may  have  some  outward  baseness,  yet  in  a 
judgment  truly  made  they  are  to  be  accounted  submis- 
sions to  the  occasion,  and   not  to  the  person." 

The  notes  which  implicate  Bacon  himself  in  this  kind 
of  "  morigeration,"  though  if  collected  and  set  out  by 
themselves  they  would  make  a  considerable  show,  are  so 
few  in  proportion  to  the  whole  that  in  seeking  for  illus- 
trations it  is  not  easy  to  light  upon  them.  But  here  is 
one  which  will  answer  the  purpose  as  well,  perhaj)s,  as 
any.  I  may  assume,  I  suppose,  that  there  is  no  immoral- 
ity in  a  Solicitor  General  wishing  to  become  Lord  Chan- 
cellor. The  choice  of  his  Lord  Chancellor  lay  in  those 
days  with  the  King,  and  the  King's  choice  woukl  naturally 
be  influenced  by  the  opinions  and  wishes  of  those  about 
him.  The  Earl  of  Suffolk  was  Lord  Chamberlain  of  the 
Household,  and  a  man  considerable  enough  to  be  selected 
a  few  years  after  for  Lord  Treasurer.  There  was  no 
great  harm  in  wishing  to  be  the  man  whom  the  Earl  of 
Suffolk  would  recommend,  and  if  he  shared  the  common 
infirmity  of  thinking  highly  of  those  who  thought  highly 

VOL.  I.  35 


546  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  [Book  IV. 

of  him,  a  Solicitor  General  would,  under  those  circum- 
stances, naturally  "wish  to  show  him  as  much  respect  as 
he  could.  I  have  not  met  with  any  letter  or  speech  or 
anecdote  which  represents  the  manner  in  which  Bacon 
was  in  the  habit  of  expressing  his  respect  to  this  Earl, 
nor  do  I  remember  to  have  met  with  any  which  repre- 
sents the  manner  in  which  he  was  addressed  by  Coke 
or  Doderidge  or  Hobart.  But  if  anything  of  the  kind 
should  turn  up,  I  should  exJDect  to  find  it  conceived  in 
a  spirit  of  great  respect  and  deference.  Such  would  be 
the  outward  face  of  a  transaction  which  would  scarcely 
be  censured  as  unbecoming,  even  by  those  who  did  not 
believe  that  the  Earl  deserved  all  the  deference  that 
was  expressed.  And  yet  if  we  were  permitted  to  look 
behind  and  see  the  seamy  side,  we  should  probably  find 
that  it  proceeded  rather  from  a  desire  to  nudie  him  be- 
lieve that  he  was  an  object  of  reverence  than  from  any 
genuine  overflow  of  that  emotion,  — a  desire,  in  fact,  as 
Bacon  frankly  expresses  it  in  his  private  meditation,  to 
"■  make  him  think  how  he  should  be  reverenced  by  a  Ld. 
Ch'',  if  I  were."  Such  would  be  the  same  transaction 
seen  from  within ;  a  transaction  which  Bacon  would  have 
excused  as  "  a  submission  to  the  occasion,"  and  which 
(wliether  excused  or  not)  is  one  of  a  very  numerous 
family,  still  flourishing  in  all  departments  of  civilized 
society.  I  do  not  myst^lf,  however,  recommend  it  for 
imitation  ;  and  if  it  be  true  that  no  man  can  be  known  to 
do  sncli  a  thing  in  these  days  without  forfeiting  his 
reputation  for   veracity,  —  I    am    glad  to  hear  it. 

After  tliis  it  is  needless  to  say  anything  about  devices 
for  drawing  the  great  councillors  into  private  conversa- 
tion in  ])ul)rKr  j)lac('S,  and  for  making  conspicuous  his 
own  car(;  and  diligence,  in  his  service  and  profession  ; 
the.se  Vx'ing  merely  arts  of  politic  ostentation,  iiivoiving 
no  breacli  of  any  moral  law.  But  there  ;iie  one  or  two 
other  pa8.sages  that  are  likely  to  catch  careless  eyes,  and 


1G07-1609.]  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  547 

to  be  alleged  in  support  of  a  charge  in  the  opposite  di- 
rection, —  a  charge  of  saying,  not  what  he  did  not  think, 
but  what  he  did  think  ;  and  upon  them  I  wish  to  say  a 
few  words. 

In  my  account  of  the  subjects  of  his  meditation  on 
Monday  I  mentioned  the  giving  evidence  of  his  supe- 
riority to  competitors  in  diligence,  zeal,  and  capacity. 
The  note  I  was  more  particularly  thinking  of  was  one 
which  begins,  "  To  have  in  mind  and  use  the  Attorney's 
weaknesses,"  and  proceeds  to  enumerate  various  cases 
which  Bacon  thought  the  Attorney  General  had  mis- 
managed, and  certain  qualities  in  which  he  found  hira 
deficient.  To  this  subject  he  recurs  on  the  29th  in  a 
note  headed  "  Hubbard's  disadvantage,"  in  which  the 
criticism  is  repeated  with  additions  and  improvements, 
and  hints  are  set  down  for  a  very  lively,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  a  very  true  description  of  the  man.  Now  an  un- 
favorable opinion  of  one  artist  delivered  or  conceived  by 
another  artist  in  the  same  line  is,  for  some  reason  or 
other,  always  accounted  an  offense  and  a  trangression. 
In  that  relation,  to  speak  the  truth  seems  to  be  consid- 
ered wrong.  Though  an  artist  in  the  same  line  is,  oi 
all  other  men,  the  best  qualified  to  see,  and  the  least 
capable  of  overlooking,  the  defects  of  an  artist's  work,  he 
is  the  one  man  who  is  forbidden  to  take  notice  of  any 
defect  in  it  whatever ;  and  criticisms  upon  an  Attornej^ 
General,  which  in  any  other  mouth  would  be  thought 
just,  sagacious,  and  discriminating,  coming  from  the 
mouth  of  a  Solicitor  General,  must  expect  no  better 
name  than  detraction.  But  though  I  am  prepared  to 
hear  the  censure,  I  am  not  prepared  to  admit  the  justice 
of  it.  Bacon  had  served  with  Sir  Henry  Hobart  in 
Council  and  in  Parliament  for  more  than  two  years. 
He  had  been  familiar  with  the  business  of  a  law-officer 
of  the  Crown  for  nearly  twenty.  No  man  had  had  bet- 
ter opportunities  of  knowing  what*  an  Attorney  General 


548  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  [Book  IV. 

ought  to  be  and  what  Hobart  was  :  and  if  he  thought  he 
did  his  Avork  badly,  I  cannot  see  what  should  have  for- 
bidden him  to  say  so,  —  especially  being  ready  at  any 
moment  not  only  to  show  how  it  might  be  done  better, 
but  to  take  it  in  hand  and  do  it.  Of  the  external  ac- 
tion, however,  in  which  these  private  meditations  issued, 
—  of  the  use  he  actually  made  of  the  list  of  weaknesses 
which  he  had  collected,  —  no  record  remains.  All  we 
know  is  that  he  succeeded  six  years  after  in  getting  Sir 
H.  Hobart  transferred  to  a  place  of  higher  dignity  for 
which  he  thougiit  him  less  unfit ;  which  was  so  far  well, 
and  would  have  been  better  if  it  had  been  sooner. 

Another  note  which,  though  ver}^  short  in  itself,  and 
the  interpretation  very  doubtful,  is  pretty  sure  to  be  seen 
and  interpreted,  will  probably  suggest  an  imputation  of 
another  kind  :  and  as  it  is  one  from  which  Bacon's  reputa- 
tion has  not  hitherto  suffered,  it  is  worth  while  to  inquire 
concerning  this  also,  how  much  it  comes  to.  The  old 
Lord  Treasurer  Dorset  had  died  suddenly  at  the  coun- 
cil-table about  three  months  before ;  and  there  are  two 
memoranda  in  this  note-book  relating  to  his  widow.  The 
first  is  merely  to  send  her  "a  message  of  compliment;  " 
and  being  entered  in  company  with  religious  reflections 
suited  for  consolation  upon  the  death  of  the  old  and  emi- 
nent, would  not  by  itself  be  taken  to  indicate  anything 
more  than  a  proper  attention  to  an  old  lady  who  had  lost 
her  husband,  and  with  whom  he  was  probably  more  or 
less  acquainted.  But  when,  two  days  after,  we  find 
another  memorandum  in  these  words,  "  Applying  myself 
to  be  inward  with  my  Lady  Dorset,  per  Champners  ; 
ad  utilit.  tfstam.,''  we  cannot  avoid  the  inference  that 
among  his  motives  for  desiring  to  improve  his  acquaint- 
ance with  her,  one  was  the  hope  of  influencing  in  some 
way  tlje  disposal  of  her  property  after  her  death;  and  the 
question  is  how  nnicii  we  are  to  infer  from  that.  In 
what  way,  —  with  a  view  to  "  utility  "  in   what  sense,  — 


1607-1609.]  PRIVATE  MEMORANDA.  549 

he  wished  to  use  his  influence,  we  are  left  to  conjecture. 
That  he  was  thinking  of  a  legifcy  for  himself,  —  unless 
we  suppose,  what  is  not  probable,  that  he  stood  in  some 
relation  to  her  which  gave  him  a  right  to  expect  it,  — 
though  it  is  the  interpretation  of  tlie  words  which  will 
occur  to  everybody  at  first,  will  seem,  I  think,  less  likely 
the  more  it  is  considered.  Had  he  been  already  "  in- 
ward "  —  that  is,  intimate  —  with  Lady  Dorset,  he  might 
perhaps  have  been  suspected  upon  this  evidence  of  a 
design  to  improve  the  intimacy  for  his  own  benefit ; 
though  we  have  no  other  evidence  that  he  ever  either 
sought  or  received  any  legacy  from  anybody,  except  his 
father.  But  to  apply  himself,  through  the  mediation  of 
another  person,  to  become  intimate  with  a  lady  who  can- 
not have  been  less  than  seventy  years  old,  in  the  hope  of 
obtaining  a  legacy  for  which  he  could  allege  no  ostensi- 
ble claim  on  the  ground  of  kindred,  service,  custom,  or 
liumanity,  seems  to  me  an  enterprise  too  unpromising  to 
be  so  much  as  thought  of :  it  was  so  very  late  in  the 
day  to  start.  Nor  is  it  at  all  necessary  to  suppose  that 
the  "  utility  "  intended  was  of  this  kind.  Bequests  for 
objects  of  general  beneficence  were  the  fashion  of  that 
time.  Whenever  money  is  to  be  left,  there  are  better 
and  worse  ways  of  disposing  of  it ;  and  Bacon  may  have 
wished  to  guide  the  beneficence  into  right  channels.  We 
have  already  seen  how  he  proposed  to  utilize  the  union 
of  riches  and  single  life  in  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury and  Bishop  Andrews  :  he  hoped  to  engage  it  in  the 
service  of  the  "  Great  Instauration."  We  shall  see  here- 
after how  much  he  busied  himself  (near  about  this  time) 
to  mend  the  conditions  of  the  great  Charter-house  char- 
ity, commonly  described  as  "  Sutton's  will," — a  public 
bequest  in  which  he  liad  no  private  interest  whatever, 
—  merely  because  he  thought  it  unwise  and  a  mistake. 
And  he  may  have  thought  that  the  widow  of  a  chancellor 
of  a  univei'sity,  herself  well  left  and  her  family  abund- 


650        MEMORIAL  ON  THE  FELICITY  OF  ELIZABETH.       [Book  IV. 

antly  provided,  might  be  disposed  oi-  disposable  to  bestow 
part  of  her  wealth  upon  some  measure  for  the  advance- 
ment of  learning,  —  pensions,  for  instance,  to  compilers 
of  natural  history,  or  the  foundation  of  a  college  for  in- 
ventors. Not  that  I  suppose  if  he  had  any  reasonable 
prospect  of  a  legacy  for  himself,  he  would  have  thought 
it  either  wise  or  virtuous  to  throw  away  the  chance  for 
want  of  a  little  civility  and  attention ;  but  the  other 
supposition  seems  to  me  more  probable. ^ 

If  we  could  know  the  dates  at  which  the  several  parts 
and  rudiments  of  the  "  Instauratio  Magna"  were  com- 
posed, we  should  probably  find  that  this  vacation  was  one 
of  its  most  fruitful  seasons.  But  of  those  writings  which 
can  be  referred  with  certainty  to  the  summer  of  1608, 
the  most  important  to  posterity  is  the  Latin  treatise  "  In 
Felicem  Memoriam  Elizabethre."  It  is  an  accident  that 
enables  us  to  date  it,  but  the  evidence  is,  I  think,  con- 
clusive. Chamberlain,  writing  to  Carleton  on  the  16th  of 
December,  1608,  mentions  it  as  a  new  thing  which  he  has 
just  been  reading;  and  from  the  letter  wliich  comes  next 
we  learn  that  it  was  written  "  this  last  summer  vacation." 

The  severe  laws  passed  by  the  Parliament  of  1606 
against  the  Roman  Catholics,  which  were  the  natural 
consequence  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  had,  by  a  conse- 
quence no  less  natural,  ]>rovoked  vehement  remonstrances 
and  recriminations  on  tlieir  part,  and  given  rise  to  a  great 
war  of  the  pen.  The  Pope  had  issued  his  Breves  forbid- 
ding the  faithful  to  take  the  proposed  oath  of  allegiance, 
'i'lu'  King  had  written  a  book  in  vindication  of  it.  Other 
])ainphlete(;rs,  gi-cat  and  small,  had  cnlfrcd  into  the  con- 
troversy ;  and  all  old  scandals  against  Protestant  Princes 
and  Parliaments  had   bcn-n   revived  and  brouixht  into  ac- 

1  It  liaH  been  siiKKefled  In  ino,  n't  a  simpler  exiilaniUioii,  that  llin  utih'tas  re- 
fiTft'd  to  was  nirrely  Komc  iirofossional  cinployincnt  coniinecled  witli  Lord  Dor- 
Hct'H  will,  wliicli  would  no  douiit  fjivc  work  to  lawyers.  But  I  am  not  well 
enough  acquainted  wilhllc  practice  of  the  lime  in  such  matters,  to  judge 
whether  this  was  likely. 


1(107-1009.]      MEMORIAL  ON  THE  FELICITY  OF  ELIZABETH.       551 

tion.     Among  the  rest  there  appeared  at  Paris  in  1607  a 
book  entitled    "Examen    Catholieum    Edicti    Angiicani, 
quod  contra  Catholicos  est  latum,  iVuctoritate  Parliaraenti 
Angline,  Anno  Domini  M.  D.  C.  VII.    Auctore  Stanislao 
Cristanovic.     I.  C'".,"  five  or  six  pages  of  which  in  the 
introductory  part   are  occupied  with  a  collection  of   all 
the  evil  that  had  ever  been  uttered  against  Queen  Eliza- 
beth ;   with  additions  of  the  writer's  own,  gathered  dur- 
ing a  visit  to  England  the  year  before.     This,  or  some 
other  book  of  the  same  kind,  suggested  to  Bacon  the  ex- 
pediency of  setting  down  in  some  permanent  form  his 
own  impressions  of  her  character  and  government.     He 
knew  that  the  falsehood  of  a  story  will  not  prevent  it 
from  keeping  its  place  in  history,  if  it  once  get  admitted 
with  a  good  introduction  and  without  audible   protest. 
And  as  so  eminent  a  man    as   the    President  De  Thou 
was   known  to  be  engaged  in  writing  a  history  of   his 
own  times  (a  portion  of  it  had  been  printed   at  Paris 
three  or  four  years    before),  it  was  very  desirable  that 
he  should  be  supplied  with  true  information  about  Eliza- 
beth, and  thereby  guarded   against  impressions  derived 
from  the  floating  literature  of  Paris,  and  such  anecdotes 
as  this  Parisian  Jurisconsult  was  ready  to  accept  for  his- 
torical.     Accordingly,   without    noticing    the    particular 
calumnies  which  he  meant  to  explode  (for  so  the  very 
repetition  of  them  would  have  kept  their  memory  alive), 
he  took  for  his  ground  the  conspicuous  and  indisputable 
fact  that  Elizabeth  reigned  full  forty-four  years  in  diffi- 
cult times,  without  any  reverse  or  decline  of  fortune  ;  and 
by  way  of  indirect  retort  to  the  Pope's  description  of  her 
as  misera  foemina,  proceeded  to  number  up  the  particu- 
lars in  which  her  life  and  government  were  to  te  re- 
garded as  remarkable  for  felicity ;  taking  occasion  at  the 
same  time  to  correct  by  anticipation  or  by  implication 
such   misconceptions  of   her   character  as  had   obtained 
currency  in  i-espectable  quarters ;  and  with  regard  to  the 


552  LETTER  TO   SIR  GEORGE  CARY.  I  Book  IV. 

Roman  Catholics  especially,  entering  into  a  formal  and 
detailed  vindication  of  her  policy  and  proceedings;  —  a 
vhidication  which  was  indeed  snbstantially  a  repetition  of 
what  he  had  twice  before  taken  pains  to  put  forward  : 
first,  in  the  letter  addressed  by  Walsingham  to  a  Secre- 
tary of  France,  in  1589  ;  and  afterwards,  in  his  "  Observa- 
tions on  a  Libel,"  in  1592.^  The  correction  of  these  mis- 
conceptions being  more  wanted  abroad  than  at  home,  he 
now  wrote  in  Latin  :  but  though  he  thought  well  enough 
of  the  work  to  name  it  in  one  of  his  wills  as  a  thing 
which  he  particularly  wished  to  be  published,  he  con- 
tented himself  for  the  present  with  circulating  manuscript 
copies  among  his  personal  acquaintance.  One  of  these  he 
sent  to  Sir  George  Gary,  then  ambassador  at  Paris,  with  a 
letter  which  sufficiently  explains  his  purposes  and  wishes. 

The  memorial  itself  —  a  grave  and  weighty  testimonial, 
deserving  the  serious  consideration  of  every  one  who  wishes 
to  understand  Elizabeth  ;  for  Bacon  had  particularly  good 
means  of  knowing  the  truth  of  what  he  tells,  and  no  mo- 
tive in  telling  it  except  a  desire  to  bear  witness  to  the 
truth  —  will  be  found  in  Bacon's  Works,  Vol.  IL,  Part  L, 
p.  413  ;  translated,  witli  a  preface  in  which  I  have  told 
what  I  know  about  it. 

The  letter  comes  from  Bacon's  own  collection. 

TO   SIR   GEORGE  CARY,  IN   FRANCE,  UPON   SENDING  HOI 
HIS  WRITING  "IN  FELICEM  MEMORIAM  ELIZABETHJE." 

My  very  GOOD  Lord,  —  Being  asked  the  question  by 
this  bearer,  an  old  servant  of  my  brother  Anthony  Bacon, 
whether  I  would  comnKind  liim  anv  scM'vice  into  France, 
^nd  being  at  better  leisure;  than  I  would,  in  regard  of 
Hickness,  I  began  to  remember  that  neither  your  business 
nor  niin(!  (though  great  and  continnal)  can  be  ii[)on  an 
exact  account  any  just  occasion  why  so  much  good  will 
UH  hath  passed  between  us  slionld  be  so  much  discontinued 

>  See  pp.  42,  G7. 


1607-1609.]  LETTER  TO  SIR  GEORGE  GARY.  553 

as  it  hath  been.  And  therefore,  because  one  must  begin, 
I  thought  to  pi'ovoke  your  remembrance  of  me  by  my 
letter.  And  thinking  how  to  fit  it  with  somewhat  besides 
salutations,  it  came  to  my  mind  tliat  this  last  summer 
vacation,  by  occasion  of  a  factious  book  that  endeavored 
to  verify  3Iisera  Fcemina  (the  addition  of  the  Pope's 
Bull)  upon  Queen  Elizabeth,  I  did  write  a  few  lines  in 
her  memorial,  which  I  thought  you  would  be  well  pleased 
to  read,  both  for  the  argument,  and  because  you  were 
wont  to  bear  affection  to  my  pen.  Ve}'U77i,  ut  aliucl  ex. 
alio^  if  it  came  handsomely  to  pass,  I  would  be  glad  the 
President  De  Thou  (who  hath  written  a  history,  as  you 
know,  of  that  fame  and  diligence)  saw  it ;  chiefly  because 
I  know  not  whether  it  may  not  serve  him  for  some  use 
in  his  story  ^ ;  wherein  I  would  be  glad  he  did  right  to 
the  truth,  and  to  the  memory  of  that  Lady,  as  I  perceive 
by  that  he  hath  already  written  he  is  well  inclined  to  do. 
I  would  be  glad  also  it  were  some  occasion  (such  as  ab- 
sence may  permit)  of  some  acquaintance  or  mutual  notice 
between  us.  For  though  he  hath  many  ways  the  preced- 
ence (chiefly  in  worth),  yet  this  is  common  to  us  both, 
that  we  serve  our  sovereigns  in  places  of  law  eminent: 
ajid  not  ourselves  only,  but  that  our  fathers  did  so  before 
us ;  and  lastly,  that  both  of  us  love  learning  and  liberal 
sciences,  which  was  ever  a  bond  of  friendship  in  the 
greatest  distances  of  places.  But  of  this  I  make  no 
further  request  than  your  own  occasions  and  respects 
(to  me  unknown)  may  further  or  limit ;  my  principal 
purpose  being  to  salute  you,  and  to  send  you  this  token : 
whereunto  I  will  add  my  very  kind  commendations  to  my 
Lady  ;  and  so  commit  you  both  to  God's  holy  protection 

The  records   of    Bacon's   official   work    are    unusuallv 
scanty  during  the  year  1609 ;  but  we  have,  on  the  other 
hand,  more  news  than  usual  of  a  work  which  is  as  much 
1  De  Thou  did  make  large  use  of  it. 


554  TO  MATTHEW,  CONCERNING  THE  "INSTAURATIO."  [Book  IV 

more  interesting  to  ns  now,  as  it  was  to  himself  then. 
Owing  to  the  banishment  of  his  friend  Toby  Matthew, 
by  which  a  personal  intercourse  which  would  have  passed 
unrecorded  was  turned  into  an  intercourse  by  letters, 
some  of  which  have  been  preserved,  we  get  this  year  a 
little  information  as  to  the  progress  of  the  "  Great  Tn- 
stauratiun."  Most  of  the  letters  are  unluckily  without' 
date,  and  the  writings  inclosed  or  referred  to  are  not  al- 
ways recognizable  by  the  description.  But  the  allusions 
are  intelligible  enough  to  justify  a  conjecture  as  to  the 
order  in  which  they  were  written. 

Some  of  them  come  from  his  own  collection,  and  some 
from  Sir  Toby  Matthew's ;  and  1  have  arranged  them  in 
the  order  which  seems  to  me  most  probable.  As  to  the 
particular  dates  of  each,  there  is  scarcely  enough  to  hang 
a  conjecture  on.  Toby  Matthew,  as  I  have  already  had 
occasion  to  observe,  appears  to  have  purposely  obliter- 
ated or  disguised  names  and  particulars  ;  and  if  the  head- 
ings were  inserted  by  himself  (which  is  doubtful  —  for 
the  collection  was  not  published  till  after  his  death)  we 
must  conclude  that  he  had  either  forgotten  the  dates  or 
intended  to  confuse  and  conceal  them. 

Tlie  first  hitter  comes  from  Bacon's  collection  ;  and 
must  have  been  written  late  enough  in  1G09  to  allow 
time  for  the  news  of  Duke  Ferdinand's  death  (17  Feb., 
1608-0)  to  liave  reached  England;  and  probably  not 
much  later ;  because  it  carried  a  copy  of  the  "  In  Felicera 
McuKU-iam  Elizabeths ;  "  of  which  there  were  copies  in 
circulation  as  early  as  December,  1608. 

A    LETTER    TO     MR.     MATTHEW,    TOUCHING     "  INSTAU- 
RATIO  MAGNA." 

Mr.  Matthi<:w, —  I  heartily  llmiik  you  for  your  letter 
of  1h(!  10th  of  Fcbrmiry,  smd  am  glad  to  receive  from  you 
matter  both  of  (incourngement  and  advertisement  touch- 
ing my  writings.     For  my  part  I  do  wish  that  since  there 


1607-1609.]  TO  MATTHEW,  CONCERNING  THE  "INSTAURATIO."  555 

is  almost  no  lumen  siccum  in  the  world,  but  all  madi- 
dum  and  maceratum,  infused  in  affections  and  bloods  or 
humors,  that  these  things  of  mine  had  those  separations 
that  might  make  them  more  acceptable ;  so  that  they 
claim  not  so  much  acquaintance  of  the  present  times,  as 
the}^  be  thereby  the  less  like  to  last.  And  to  show  you 
that  I  have  some  purpose  to  new-mould  them,  I  send  you 
a  leaf  or  two  of  the  Preface,  carrying  some  figure  of  the 
wliole  work  ;  wherein  I  purpose  to  take  that  which  I 
count  real  and  effectual  of  bofh  writings  ;  and  chiefly 
to  add  pledge  if  not  payment  to  my  promise.  I  send 
you  also  a  memorial  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  to  requite  your 
elogy  of  the  late  Duke  of  Florence's  felicity.  Of  this, 
when  you  were  here,  I  showed  you  some  model ;  though 
at  that  time  methought  you  were  more  willing  to  hear 
Julius  C?esar  than  Queen  Elizabeth  commended.  But 
this  which  I  send  is  more  full,  and  hath  more  of  the  nar- 
rative :  and  further,  hath  one  part  that  I  think  will  not 
be  disagreeable  either  to  you  or  that  place ;  being  the 
true  tracks  of  her  pi'oceedings  towards  the  Catholics, 
which  are  infinitely  mistaken.  And  though  I  do  not 
imagine  they  will  pass  allowance  there,  yet  they  will 
gain  your  excuse.  I  find  Mr.  Le  Zure  to  use  you  well 
(I  mean  his  tongue  of  you),  which  shows  you  either  hon- 
est or  wise.  But  this  I  speak  merrih\  For  in  good  faith. 
I  do  conceive  hope  that  you  will  so  govern  yourself,  as 
we  may  take  you  as  assuredly  for  a  good  subject  and 
patriot,  as  you  take  yourself  for  a  good  Christian  ;  and 
so  we  may  again  enjoy  your  company,  and  you  your  con- 
science, if  it  may  no  otherwise  be.  For  my  part,  assure 
yourself  that  (as  we  say  in  the  law)  mutatis  mutandis, 
my  love  and  good  wishes  to  you  are  not  diminished. 
And  so  I  remain  — 

The  next  letter  comes  from  Sir  Toby  Matthew's  col- 
lection, where  it  is  printed  with  the  following  heading: 


556  TO  MATTHKW,  CONCERNING  THE  "INSTAUKATIO."  [Book  IV. 

"  Mr.  Bacon,  by  way  of  advertisement  of  several  things 
in  a  familiar  way,  to  the  same  friend  and  servant  of  his." 
This,  if  correct,  would  imply  that  it  was  written  before 
the  23d  of  July,  1603,  when  Mr.  Bacon  became  Sir 
Francis  :  but  that  cannot  be ;  for  the  "  Advancement  of 
Learning  "  was  not  then  in  existence.  The  evidence  of 
the  heading  being  set  aside  therefore  as  inadmissible,  we 
are  left  free  to  choose  the  date  which  seems  likeliest.  And 
the  terms  in  which  Matthew's  state  of  mind  is  spoken  of, 
in  connection  with  "  loyalty,"  "  honest}^"  "  native  coun- 
try," and  "  trust  with  the  state,"  seem  to  me  to  carry  a 
silent  allusion  to  his  change  of  religion  :  in  which  case 
it  cannot  be  placed  earlier  than  1608.  How  much  later 
I  find  no  means  of  determining. 

TO   MR.    MATTHEW. 

Sir,  —  Two  letters  of  mine  are  now  already  walking 
towards  you  ;  but  so  that  we  might  meet,  it  were  no 
matter  though  our  letters  should  lose  their  way.  I  make 
a  shift  in  the  mean  time  to  be  glad  of  your  approaches, 
and  would  be  more  glad  to  be  an  agent  for  your  presence, 
who  have  been  a  patient  by  your  absence.  If  your  body 
by  indisposition  make  you  acknowledge  the  healthful  air 
of  your  native  country,  much  more  do  I  assure  myself 
that  you  continue  to  liave  your  mind  no  way  estranged. 
And  as  my  trust  with  the  state  is  above  suspicion,  so  my 
knowledge  both  of  your  loyalty  and  honest  nature  will 
ever  mak(;  me  show  myself  your  faithfid  friend  without 
scruple.  You  hav(;  n'ason  to  commend  that  gentleman 
to  me,  by  whom  you  sent  y(jur  last,  although  his  having 
travelled  so  long  amongst  the  sadder  nations  of  tlie  world 
make  him  much  tlu;  less  easy  upon  small  accjuaintance  to 
b(r  iiii'lerslodd.  I  have  sent  you  some  copies  of  luy  hook 
of  the  "  Advaiieeiiieiil,''  whieh  you  desired;  and  a  little 
work  of  my  recreation,  wliieh  you  desiriMl  not.  My  "In- 
Htanratiuii  ■'  I    reserve  for  our  conference;   it   sleeps   not. 


1607-1609.]   TO  MATTHEW,  ON  THE  MEMORIAL  OF  ELIZABETH.    557 

Those  works  of  the  Alphabet  are  in  my  opinion  of  less 
use  to  you  where  you  are  now,  than  at  Paris ;  and  there- 
fore I  conceived  that  you  had  sent  me  a  kind  of  tacit 
countermand  of  your  former  request.  But  in  regard  that 
some  friends  of  yours  have  still  insisted  here,  I  send  them 
to  you  ;  and  for  my  part,  I  value  your  own  reading  more 
than  your  publishing  them  to  others.  Thus,  in  extreme 
haste,  I  have  scribbled  to  you  I  know  not  what,  which 
therefore  is  the  less  affected,  and  for  that  very  reason 
will  not  be  esteemed  the  less  by  you. 

What  those  "  works  of  the  alphabet "  may  have  been, 
I  cannot  guess  ;  unless  they  related  to  Bacon's  cipher ; 
in  which  by  means  of  two  alphabets,  one  having  only 
two  letters,  the  other  having  two  forms  for  each  of  the 
twenty-four  letters,  any  words  you  please  may  be  so 
written  as  to  signify  any  other  words,  provided  only  that 
the  open  writing  contains  at  least  five  times  as  many  let- 
ters as  the  concealed.  It  is  not  impossible  that  a  man  in 
Matthews's  position  may  have  needed  a  safe  cipher,  and 
may  have  needed  it  more  at  Paris  than  in  Italy  or  Spain. 

The  next  letter,  which  is  from  the  same  collection,  is 
headed  "  Mr.  Francis  Bacon  to  a  dear  friend,  concerning 
some  of  his  woi'ks  in  writing."  And  here  again  the 
"  Mr."  must  be  wrong.  The  allusion  to  "  that  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,"  coupled  with  the  report  he  had  received  of  it 
from  "  the  Leiger  at  Paris,"  leaves  no  room  for  doubt 
that  this  letter  was  written  while  Sir  George  Gary  was 
still  embassador  in  France  ;  therefore  before  October, 
1609:  and  though  it  contains  no  particulars  which  enable 
Bs  to  fix  the  exact  date,  I  see  nothing  to  prevent  us  from 
SrvSsigning  it  to  the  summer  of  that  year  ;  which,  suppos- 
ing the  letter  which  conveyed  the  "In  Felicom  Memoriara 
Elizabethae  "  to  have  been  despatched  in  March  or  April, 
■would  allow  time  enough  for  the  arrival  of  Matthew's 
answer. 


558  TO  MATTHEW,  ON  THE  MEMORIAL  OF  ELIZABETH.  [Book  IV. 

TO  MK.   MATTHEW. 

SiK,  —  I  thank  you  for  j-our  last,  and  pray  you  to 
believe  that  your  liberty  in  giving  opinion  of  those  ^vrit- 
ings  which  I  sent  you,  is  that  which  I  sought,  which  I 
expected,  and  which  I  take  in  exceeding  good  part ;  so 
good  as  that  it  makes  me  recontinue,  or  rather  continue, 
my  hearty  wishes  of  your  company  here,  that  so  you 
might  use  the  same  liberty  concerning  my  actions  which 
now  you  exercise  concerning  ray  writings.  For  that  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  your  judgment  of  the  temper  and  truth 
of  that  part  which  concerns  some  of  her  foreign  proceed- 
ings concurs  fully  with  the  judgment  of  others,  to  whom 
I  have  communicated  part  of  it ;  and  as  things  go,  I  sup- 
pose they  are  likely  to  be  more  and  more  justified  and  al- 
lowed. And  whereas  you  say,  for  some  other  part,  that 
it  moves  and  opens  a  fair  occasion  and  broad  way  into 
some  field  of  contradiction  :  on  the  other  side  it  is  written 
to  me  from  the  leiger  at  Paris,  and  some  others  also,  that 
it  carries  a  manifest  impression  of  truth  with  it,  and  that 
it  even  convinces  as  it  goes.  These  are  their  very  words  ; 
wliich  I  write  not  for  mine  own  glory,  but  to  show  what 
variety  of  opinion  rises  from  tiie  disposition  of  several 
readers.  And  I  must  confess  my  desire  to  be,  that  my 
writings  should  not  court  the  present  time,  or  some  few 
places,  in  such  sort  as  might  make  tliem  either  less  gen- 
eral to  persons,  or  less  permanent  in  future  ages.  As  for 
the  "  Instauration,"  your  so  full  approbation  thereof  I 
read  with  much  comfort,  by  how  much  nujre  my  heart  is 
upon  it ;  and  by  how  much  less  I  expected  consent  and  con- 
curnMice  in  a  matter  so  obscure.  Of  this  I  can  assure  you, 
that  thougli  many  tilings  of  great  hope  decay  with  youth 
(and  >nultitud(!  of  civil  liusinesses  is  wont  to  diminish  the 
|)rice,  though  nut  (Ik-  di-light,  of  (jontemjilations),  yet  the 
])roceedlng  in  that  work  doth  gain  with  mc*  upon  my  af- 
fection  and  desire,  both   bv  v<'iirs  and   Inisinesscs.     And 


1607-1G09.]    THE   "  INSTAUEATIO "   AND  THE  CHURCHMEN.     559 

therefore  I  hope,  even  by  this,  that  it  is  well  pleasing  to 
God,  from  whom  and  to  whom  all  good  moves.  To  Him 
I  most  heartily  commend  you. 

At  last  we  come  to  a  letter  with  a  date :  a  date  which 
may  be  taken  as  conclusive  of  the  time  when  it  was  writ- 
ten ;  and  as  no  question  that  I  know  of  depends  upon  the 
time  when  it  was  received,  it  will  serve  our  purpose  as  well 
as  if  it  had  been  despatched  and  delivered  in  due  course. 
It  is  addressed  to  Toby  Matthew,  and  was  meant  to  ac- 
company another  piece  of  the  "  Instauratio  Magna."  Al- 
ready in  a  former  letter,  as  we  have  seen,  he  had  sent 
him  "  a  leaf  or  two  of  the  Preface,  carrying  some  figure 
of  the  whole  work  ;  wherein  he  purposed  to  take  what  he 
counted  real  and  effectual  of  both  writings."  This  ma}^ 
perhaps  have  been  the  very  Prcefatio  which  introduces 
the  JDistribatio  Operis  (Vol.  I.,  p.  199),^  which  was  de- 
signed to  stand  as  Preface  to  the  whole  "  Instauratio,"  and 
the  argument  of  which  is  thus  announced  :  De  statu  sci- 
entiarum^  quod  non  sitfelix  aut  in  majorem  modiim  auc- 
tus;  quodque  alia  omnino  quam  priorihus  cognita  fuerit 
via  aperienda  sit  intellectui  hwnano,  et  alia  comparanda 
auxilia,  ut  mens  suo  jure  in  rerum  naturam  uti  j^ossit. 
"  That  the  state  of  knowledge  is  not  prosperous  nor 
greatly  advancing :  and  that  a  way  must  be  opened  for 
the  human  understanding  entirely  different  from  any 
hitherto  known  ;  and  other  helps  provided  ;  in  order  that 
the  mind  may  exercise  over  the  nature  of  things  the 
authority  which  properly  belongs  to  it."  Whatever  it 
was,  it  seems  that  Matthew  highly  approved  and  ap- 
plauded it,  taking  exceptions  however  to  some  other  parts 
of  the  work,  as  likely  to  offend  the  Churchmen.  Bacon 
now  proposed  to  send  him  another  piece,  —  which  is  sup- 
poseil  by  M.  Bouillet^  to  have  been  the  "  Redargutio  Phi- 
iosophiarum."     And  certainly  the  terms  in  which  it  is 

^  Complete  Works. 

2  (Euvres  Ph ilosnphiques  de  Bacon,  vol.  ii.,  p.  46. 


5G0     THE   "  INSTAURATIO "   AND  THE  CHURCHMEN.     [Book  IV. 

spoken  of  are  exactly  applicable  to  that  fine  composi- 
tion ;  the  most  perfect  piece,  perhaps,  for  form  and  exe- 
cution that  Bacon  left  behind  him  :  in  which,  under  the 
form  of  a  speech  supposed  to  be  addressed  by  a  philoso- 
pher in  Paris  to  an  assembly  of  sages,  the  whole  subject 
of  what  he  afterwards  called  the  Idols  of  the  Theatre 
is  fully  and  finely  handled. 

The  letter  which  was  to  have  accompanied  it  comes 
from  Bacon's  own  collection,  and  runs  thus :  — 

A   LETTER    TO    MR.   MATTHEW,   UPON    SENDING    TO   HIM 
PART   OF   "INSTAURATIO   MAGNA." 

Mr.  Matthew,  —  I  plainly  perceive  by  your  affec- 
tionate writing  touching  my  work,  that  one  and  the  same 
thing  affected  us  both  ;  which  is  the  good  end  to  which 
it  is  dedicate  ;  for  as  to  an}'-  ability  of  mine,  it  cannot 
merit  that  degree  of  approbation.  For  your  caution  for 
churchmen  and  church  matters,  as  for  any  impediment  it 
might  be  to  the  applause  and  celebrity  of  my  work,  it 
moveth  me  not ;  but  as  it  may  hinder  the  fruit  and  good 
which  may  come  of  a  quiet  and  calm  passage  to  the  good 
port  to  which  it  is  bound,  I  hold  it  a  just  respect;  so  as 
to  fetch  a  fair  wind  I  go  not  too  far  about.  But  tho 
ti  iitli  is,  I  shall  have  no  occasion  to  meet  them  in  my  way 
excej)t  it  be  as  they  will  needs  confederate  themselves 
with  Aristotle,  who,  you  know,  is  intemperately  magni- 
fied with  the  schoolmen  ;  and  is  also  allied  (as  I  take  it) 
to  the  Jesuits,  by  Faber,  who  was  a  conn)anit)n  of  Lo- 
yola, and  a  great  Aristotelian.  J  send  you  at  this  time 
the  only  part  which  hath  any  harshness  ;  and  yet  I  framed 
to  myself  an  f)pinion,  that  whosoever  allowed  well  of  that 
preface  which  you  so  much  commend,  will  not  dislike,  or 
at  least  ought  not  to  dislike,  this  other  speech  of  prepara- 
tion ;  for  it  is  written  out  of  the  same  spirit,  a!id  out  of 
the  same  ncicessity.  Nay,  it  doth  more  fully  lay  open  that 
the  question  between  me  and  the  ancients  is  not  of  the 


1607-1609.]  BISHOP  ANDREWES  AND  BELLARMIN.  561 

virtue  of  the  race,  but  of  the  rightness  of  the  way.  And 
to  speak  truth,  it  is  to  the  other  but  as  palma  to  jjugnus, 
part  of  the  same  thing  more  large.  You  conceive  ariglit 
that  in  this  and  the  other  you  have  commission  to  impart 
and  communicate  them  to  others  according  to  your  dis- 
cretion. Other  matters  I  write  not  of.  Myself  am  like 
the  miller  of  Huntingdon,  that  was  wont  to  pniy  for 
peace  amongst  the  willows ;  for  while  the  winds  blew, 
the  wind-mills  wrought,  and  the  water-mill  was  less  cus- 
tomed. So  I  see  that  controversies  of  religion  must  hin- 
der the  advancement  of  sciences.  Let  me  conclude  with 
my  perpetual  wish  towards  yourself,  that  the  approbation 
of  yourself,  by  your  own  discreet  and  temperate  carriage, 
may  restore  you  to  your  country,  and  your  friends  to  your 
society.  And  so  I  commend  you  to  God's  goodness. 
Gray's  Inx,  this  lOtli  of  October,  1609. 

All  this  time  the  great  pen-and-ink-war  between  the 
King  and  the  Pope  had  been  growing  hotter  and  spread- 
ing wider.  The  King's  book  in  defense  of  the  oath  of 
allegiance  against  the  Pope's  breve  had  been  answered 
by  Cardinal  Bellarmin  ;  and  as  it  was  not  according  to 
the  laws  of  the  duello  that  a  Cardinal  should  be  answered 
by  a  King,  some  champion  of  inferior  rank  bad  to  be  ap- 
pointed to  meet  him,  and  the  man  chosen  was  Bishop 
Andrewes  :  one  of  many  things  which  ought  to  be  re- 
membered to  the  credit  of  James's  judgment  and  taste, 
better  than  the}'-  are. 

"  We  say,"  says  Chambei-lain,  writing  to  Carleton  on 
the  21st  of  October,  1608,  "that  the  Bishop  of  Chichester 
is  appointed  to  answer  Bellarmin  about  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance ;  which  task  I  doubt  how  he  will  undertake  and 
perform,  being  so  contrary  to  his  disposition  and  course 
to  meddle  with  controversies."  And  again  on  the  11th 
of  November,  —  "I  thank  you  for  your  remonstrance  of 
tJie  French  clergy,  which  will  give  me  occasion  peilmps 

VOL.  I.  36 


562    TO  BISHOP  ANDREWES  :   "  COGITATA  ET  VISA."     [Book  IV. 

to  visit  the  good  Bishop  of  Chicliester;  though  I  doubt 
he  be  not  at  leisure  for  any  bye  matters,  the  King  doth 
so  hasten  and  spur  him  on  in  this  business  of  Bellar- 
min's;  which  he  were  likely  to  perform  very  well  (as  I 
hear  by  them  that  can  judge)  if  he  might  take  his  own 
time,  and  not  be  troubled  nor  entangled  with  arguments 
obtruded  to  him  continually  by  the  King." 

In  this  warfare  Bacon  took  no  part,  and  apparently 
not  much  interest.  He  was  in  eager  pursuit  of  an  ob- 
ject to  which  he  regarded  such  disputes  as  impediments. 
He  saw  that  "  controversies  of  religion  hindered  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  sciences ;  "  and  as  the  miller  of  Hun- 
tingdon prayed  for  peace  among  the  willows,  he  prayed 
for  peace  among  the  theologians.  I  am  not  called  upon 
therefore  to  enter  further  into  that  famous  dispute,  and  I 
mention  it  chiefly  for  its  bearing  upon  the  date  of  the 
next  letter.  We  hear  of  Bishop  Andrewes's  book  being 
in  the  press  in  June,  1600.  On  the  22d  of  September 
he  was  translated  from  Chichester  to  Ely.  If  we  sup- 
pose that  about  that  time  Bacon  sent  him  a  copy  of  the 
"■  Cogitata  et  Visa  "  with  the  last  additions  and  amend- 
ments  (for  though  we  have  heard  of  a  work  with  that 
title  being  in  circulation  two  years  before,  we  must  think 
that  the  copy  which  has  come  done  to  us  was  the  fruit 
of  more  vacations  than  one),  the  letter  which  follows  will 
need  no  further  explanation  or  introduction.  It  comes 
from  Bacon's  own  collection. 

A  LETTKll   TO  THE  BISHOP  OV   ELY,  UPON   SENDING  HIS 
WRITING  ENTITLED  "COGITATA  ET  VISA." 

My  very  good  Lord,  —  Now  your  Lordship  hath 
been  so  long  in  the  church  and  the  palace,  disputing  be- 
tween kings  and  popes,  methinks  you  shcnild  take  pleasure 
to  lo(jk  into  the  field,  and  refresh  your  mind  with  some 
matter  of  philosophy,  thoiigh  that  science  be  now  through 
iige  waxed  a  child  again,  and   left  to   boys  and  young 


16O7-1609.]  "DE  SAPIENTIA  VETERUM."  663 

men ;  and  because  you  were  wont  to  make  me  believe 
you  took  liking  to  my  writings,  I  send  you  some  of  this 
vacation's  fruits ;  and  thus  much  more  of  my  mind  and 
purpose.  I  hasten  not  to  publish ;  perishing  I  would 
prevent.  And  I  am  forced  to  respect  as  well  my  times 
as  the  matter.  For  with  me  it  is  thus,  and  I  think  with 
all  men  in  my  case :  if  I  bind  myself  to  an  argument, 
it  loadeth  my  mind ;  but  if  I  rid  my  mind  of  the  present 
cogitation,  it  is  rather  a  recreation.  This  hath  put  me 
into  these  miscellanies ;  which  I  purpose  to  suppress,  if 
God  give  me  leave  to  write  a  just  and  perfect  volume 
of  philosophy,  which  I  go  on  with  though  slowly.  I 
send  not  your  Lordship  too  much,  lest  it  may  glut  you. 
Now  let  me  tell  you  what  my  desire  is.  If  your  Lord- 
ship be  so  good  now,  as  when  you  were  the  good  Dean  of 
Westminster,  my  request  to  you  is,  that  not  by  pricks, 
but  by  notes,  you  would  mark  unto  me  whatsoever  shall 
seem  unto  you  either  not  current  in  the  style,  or  harsh 
to  credit  and  opinion,  or  inconvenient  for  the  person  of 
the  writer;  for  no  man  can  be  judge  and  party;  and 
when  our  minds  judge  by  reflection  of  ourselves,  they 
are  more  subject  to  error.  And  though  for  the  matter 
itself  my  judgment  be  in  some  things  fixed,  and  not  ac- 
cessible by  any  men's  judgment  that  goeth  not  my  way: 
yet  even  in  those  things,  the  admonition  of  a  friend  may 
make  me  express  myself  diversely.  I  would  have  come 
to  your  Lordship,  but  that  I  am  hastening  to  my  house 
in  the  countiy.  And  so  I  commend  your  Lordship  to 
God's  goodness. 

Another  of  the  fruits  of  this  year  was  his  little  book 
"De  Sapientia  Veterum;"  one  of  the  most  elegant  of 
his  works,  and,  in  his  own  and  the  next  generation,  one 
of  the  most  popular.  It  appears  to  have  grown  out  of  a 
thought  dropped  w^ith  much  hesitation  in  the  "  Advance- 
ment of    Learning  ;  "  where,  speaking  of  '*  Poesy  Para- 


564  ''DE  SAPIENTIA   VETERUM."  [Book  IV. 

bolical,"  —  and  that  one  of  its  uses  is  "  when  the  secrets 
and  mysteries  of  religion,  policy,  or  philosophy  are  in- 
volved in  fables  or  parables,"  —  he  goes  on,  "  In  heathen 
poesy  we  see  the  exposition  of  fables  doth  fall  out  some- 
times with  great  felicity,  as  in  the  fable  that  the  Giants 

being  overthrown,"   etc "  Nevertheless    in    many 

the  like  encounters  I  do  rather  think  that  the  fable  was 
first  and  the  exposition  devised,  than  that  the  moral  was 

first  and  thereupon  the  fable  framed But  yet  that 

all  the  fables  and  fictions  of  the  poets  were  but  pleasure 
and  not  figure,  I  interpose  no  opinion.  Surely  of  those 
poets  which  are  now  extant,  even  Homer  himself  (not- 
withstanding he  was  made  a  kind  of  Scripture  by  the 
later  school  of  the  Grecians),  yet  I  should  without  any 
difficulty  pronounce  that  his  fables  had  no  such  inward- 
ness in  his  own  meaning  ;  hut  ivhat  they  might  have  upon 
a  more  original  tradition^  is  not  ea^y  to  affirm ;  for  he 
was  not  the  inventor  of  many  of  them." 

From  the  manner  in  which  it  is  expressed,  I  imagine 
the  thought  to  have  been  at  this  time  in  the  first  stage  of 
digestion.  But  following  out  the  hint  in  the  last  sen- 
tence, he  came  afterwards  to  the  conclusion  that,  long 
before  the  days  of  Homer  and  Hesiod,  a  generation  of 
wise  men  had  flourished  on  the  earth  who  taught  the 
mysteries  of  nature  in  parables  ;  that  after  they  and  what 
they  taught  had  alike  passed  away  and  been  forgotten, 
the  names  and  incidents  of  these  parables  still  floated  in 
tradition  ;  but  tliat  they  were  then  taken  merel}'  for  tales 
of  old  times,  and  falling  into  the  hands  of  poets  and  niin- 
Htrels  were  altered,  adorned,  and  added  to  at  jilcasure, 
witliout  regard  to  the  original  meaning,  till  they  s(!ttled 
into  the  shape;  in  wliich  we  find  them.  Tiu;  ])robleni, 
thorefor<!,  was  to  g(!t  rid  ul  tlie  overgnjwtlis,  and  to  re- 
cover and  intcrpi-et  the  original  parable  ;  and  Bacon,  hav- 
ing already  made  tlie  trial  upon  three  or  four,  followed 
it  up  in  others,  —  collecting  the  incidents  from  a  com- 


1607-1009.]  "DE  SAPIENTIA  YETERUM."  5Gd 

parison  of  all  extant  traditions,  and  adding  what  he  su}3- 
posed  to  be  the  interpretations,  —  until  he  had  enough 
to  make  a  little  volume.  This  he  now  j^ublished.  His 
motive  for  doing  so  at  this  time  —  it  came  out  about  the 
end  of  1609  —  was  not,  I  think,  merely  that  it  was  a 
very  pretty  book  showing  reading  and  scholarship,  setting 
forth  certain  favorite  speculations  of  his  own  in  a  strik- 
ing and  attractive  shape,  and  likely  to  raise  his  reputa- 
tion among  scholars;  though  that  may  seem  motive  suffi- 
cient; for  it  had  never  been  his  practice  to  publish  small 
pieces.  Old  as  he  was  and  much  as  he  had  written,  he 
had  appeared  as  an  author  in  print  only  twice  before,  and 
only  once  willingly;  the  "Essays"  having  been  sent  to 
the  press  as  they  were,  only  to  rescue  them  from  pirates. 
But  he  was  now  busily  considering  how  the  new  ideas  of 
the  "  lustauratio  "  might  be  introduced  into  the  world 
with  the  best  chance  of  favorable  entertainment ;  and  it 
occurred  to  him  that  if  presented  as  treasures  recovered 
from  antiquity  they  would  be  more  respectfully  regarded 
than  if  propounded  as  his  own.  When  among  other 
measures  for  preparing  men's  minds  to  receive  them,  he 
suggested  to  himself  the  "  discoursing  scornfully  of  the 
philosophy  of  the  Grecians,  with  some  better  respect  to 
the  Egyptians,  Persians,  Caldes,  and  the  utmost  antiq- 
uity, and  the  mysteries  of  the  poets,''''  he  was  probably 
thinking  of  these  fables :  and  from  a  passage  in  the 
"  Cogitata  et  Visa,"  where  he  observes  how  easy  it  would 
be  to  make  out  that  the  sages  who  flourished  before  the 
Greeks  had  a  deeper  knowledge  of  nature  than  they, 
and  —  as  new-risen  men  seek  to  ennoble  themselves  by 
adopting  ancient  pedigrees  —  to  father  these  ideas  upon 
them,  we  know  that  he  had  in  fact  considered  the  point 
with  the  thought  of  making  this  use  of  it.  He  concluded, 
indeed,  that  the  argument  was  too  doubtful  to  be  fairly 
employed  in  that  way  ;  yet  he  had  still  too  strong  a 
Uncy  for  it  himself  to  be  content  that  it  should  be  thrown 


5G6  "  DE  SAPIENTIA  VETERUM."  [Book  IV. 

aside  as  worthless;  and  as  tlie  inquiry  supplied  him  at 
any  rate  with  a  handsome  occasion  for  announcing  ideas 
of  his  own  for  which  he  wished  to  bespeak  a  hearing,  he 
resolved  to  cast  his  bread  upon  the  waters,  trusting  that 
the  world  would  find  it  in  due  time. 

The  value  of  the  book  to  us  does  not  depend  upon  our 
acceptance  of  the  theory  on  which  it  is  constructed.  If 
it  did,  it  would  hardly  rise  above  the  price  of  a  curiosity. 
That  a  state  of  high  intellectual  cultivation  may  have 
existed  on  the  earth,  and  disappeared  with  all  its  fruits 
and  all  its  traditions,  leaving  no  record  of  itself  behind, 
is  not  altogether  inconceivable,  if  we  suppose  that  the 
art  of  writing,  or  of  preserving  writing  in  some  durable 
material,  was  not  among  its  inventions.  If  the  preser- 
vation of  any  knowledge  depend  upon  an  unbroken  suc- 
cession of  oral  teachers,  one  or  two  unlucky  generations 
might  lose  it  beyond  recovery.  But  it  is  harder  to  con- 
ceive that  any  such  state  could  have  existed  without  pro- 
ducing works  of  some  kind,  that  could  not  have  been  so 
easily  obliterated.  A  war  might  interrupt  the  succession 
of  teachers,  but  it  would  take  a  convulsion  of  nature  to 
bury  all  evidence  of  works  accomplished.  The  solution 
of  the  problem  which  modern  inquirers,  studying  it  with 
greater  advantages,  have  arrived  at,  avoids  this  difficulty. 
Admitting  —  and  so  far  agreeing  with  Bacon — that  the 
existence  of  man)''  of  these  fables  cannot  be  satisfactorily 
accounted  for  without  supposing  that  they  grew  out  of 
earlier  stories  wOiich  contained  an  allegorical  meaning  of 
some  kind,  they  look  for  the  meaning  which  they  did 
contain  in  the  very  opposite  direction.  Instead  of  seek- 
ing in  those  earlier  stories  for  shadows  of  profound  sci- 
<ince,  they  take  tliem  to  have  been  the  simplest  expres- 
sions of  the  simplest  conceptions  of  an  age  when  abstract 
thought  had  not  yet  formed  for  itself  a  language  to  speak 
in,  and  all  speech  was  metaphor,  —  to  have  represented 
in  fact  not  the  secrets  and  mysteries  of  nature,  but  her 


1CU7-1C09.]  LETTER  TO  MATTHEW.  667 

most  obvious  and  ordinary  phenomena ;  and  bad  Bacon 
lived  into  tbe  days  of  comparative  pbilology  and  com- 
parative mytbolog}',  I  have  little  doubt  that  be  would 
have  accepted  this  solution  as  far  easier  and  more  prob- 
able than  his  own,  and  forthwith  renounced  all  claim  to 
have  his  ideas  regarded  as  the  property  of  a  forgotten 
generation.  To  us,  however,  the  ideas  themselves  are 
not  the  less  valuable  on  that  account :  and  I  doubt 
Avhether  an}?^  one  of  his  works  can  be  mentioned  which 
contains  within  the  same  compass  a  greater  vaiiety  of 
fine  and  original  observation  upon  the  various  businesses 
and  conditions  of  human  life,  more  agreeably  delivered, 
or  more  available  for  the  instruction  of  modern  men. 

This  is  the  little  work  of  which  he  sent  Toby  Matthew 
a  copy  with  the  following  letter ;  which  comes  from  his 
own  collection. 

A  LETTER  TO  MR.  MATTHEW,  UPON   SENDING   HIS   BOOK 
"  DE   SAPIENTIA   VETERUM." 

Mr.  Matthew,  —  I  do  heartily  thank  you  for  your 
letter  of  the  24th  of  August  from  Salamanca ;  and  in 
recompense  thereof,  I  send  you  a  little  work  of  mine 
that  hath  begun  to  pass  the  world.  They  tell  me  my 
Latin  is  turned  into  silver,  and  become  current.  Had 
you  been  here,  you  should  have  been  my  inquisitor  be- 
fore it  came  forth  :  but  I  think  the  greatest  inquisitor  in 
Spain  will  allow  it.  But  one  thing  you  must  pardon  me 
if  I  make  no  haste  to  believe,  that  the  world  should  be 
grown  to  such  an  ecstasy  as  to  reject  truth  in  philosophy, 
because  the  author  dissenteth  in  religion ;  no  more  than 
they  do  by  Aristotle  or  Averroes.  My  great  work  goeth 
forward ;  and  after  ray  manner,  I  alter  ever  when  I  add. 
So  that  nothing  is  finished  till  all  be  finished.  This  I 
have  written  in  the  midst  of  a  term  and  parliament; 
thinking  no  time  so  precious  but  that  I  should  talk  of 
these   matters  with    so  good    and   dear  a  friend.     And 


568  LETTER  TO  CASAUBON.         [Book  IV. 

BO  with  my  wonted  wishes  I  leave  you  to  God's  good- 
ness. 

From  Gray's  Inn,  the  17th  of  February,  1610. 

Among  Bacon's  memoranda  of  the  26th  of  July  1608, 
one  runs  thus  :  "  Q.  of  learned  men  beyond  the  seas  to 
be  made,  and  hearkening  who  they  be  that  may  be  so 
inclined."  "  To  be  made  "  means  of  course  to  be  per- 
suaded to  take  an  interest  in  the  "  Great  Instauration." 
In  the  course  of  the  next  year  a  chance  presented  itself, 
which  he  did  not  neglect,  though  I  am  not  aware  that 
anything  came  of  it.  Isaac  Casaubon,  the  famous  scholar, 
was  then  at  Paris,  invited  by  a  pension  from  Henry  IV. 
and  hopes  of  a  professorship.  He  had  there  becorne  ac- 
quainted with  some  of  Bacon's  writings,  probably  through 
Sh-  George  Gary,  and  perhaps  at  the  instance  of  Bacon 
himself;  and  had  written  to  Sir  George  to  express  hi.s 
admiration  of  them.  Bacon  took  hold  of  the  occasion 
to  invite  a  correspondence,  as  we  learn  from  a  Latin 
letter  in  the  collection  at  Lainbcth.  It  is  only  a  draught, 
and  may  probably  therefore  be  the  record  of  an  inten- 
tion only,  which  was  not  fullilled.  But  for  our  pur- 
poses the  intention  is  enough.  Tlu^  date  is  not  in  this 
case  of  much  consequence  ;  except  tliat  if  the  letter  was 
sent  to  Casaubon  in  1000,  we  might  have  expected  to 
hear  of  some  further  communication  Ix'tween  them  after 
lie  arriv(!d  in  Kiiglaiid  ;  which  he  did  the  next  year. 
Tiirch,  l)y  wIkmu  this  letter  was  first  pul.lishetl,  observ- 
ing that  Casaul)on  had  written  to  Sir  George  Gary, 
appears  to  liave  inferred  that  they  could  not  have  been 
both  in  France  or  both  in  England  ;  and  as  Sir  George 
returned  from  his  embassy  in  France  in  October,  1009, 
and  Casaubon  arrived  in  England  in  October,  1610,  con- 
cluded tliat  the  letter  must  have  been  written  between 
thcjse  dates.  But  as  it  is  obvious  that  Casaubon  miglit 
have  sent  a  letter  to  Sir  George  when  they  were  both  in 


1607-1609.]  LETTER  TO  CASAUBON.  569 

Paris  or  both  in  London,  tlicre  is  not  really  any  ground 
for  that  conclusion.  All  that  can  be  said  is  that  this  is 
as  likely  a  date  as  any  other,  and  that  the  letter  (of 
which  I  subjoin  a  translation)  comes  in  here  more  con- 
Teniently  than  it  would  anywhere  else.  Only  it  must 
be  understood  that  any  speculation  which  depends  upon 
the  assumjDtion  of  this  date  as  a  fact  ought  to  be  re- 
jected as  wanting  evidence.  Casauboji  came  to  Eng- 
land after  the  death  of  Henry  IV.,  and  was  well  enter- 
tained by  James,  both  with  attentions  and  preferments, 
till  1614,  when  he  died;  but  I  find  no  traces  of  any  fur- 
ther correspondence  between  him  and  Bacon  ;  which,  if 
they  had  come  into  personal  communication,  could  hardly 
have  failed  to  be  found  in  the  "  Ephemerides." 

"  Understanding  from  your  letter  to  the  Lord  Gary  that 
you  approve  my  writings,  I  not  only  took  it  as  a  matter 
for  congratulation  with  myself,  but  thought  I  ought  to 
write  and  tell  you  how  much  pleasure  it  had  given  me. 
You  are  right  in  supposing  that  my  great  desire  is  to 
draw  the  sciences  out  of  their  hiding-places  into  the  light. 
For  indeed  to  write  at  leisure  that  which  is  to  be  read  at 
leisure  matters  little  ;  but  to  bring  about  the  better  ordei- 
ing  of  man's  life  and  business,  with  all  its  troubles  and 
difficulties,  by  the  help  of  sound  and  true  contemplations, 
—  this  is  the  thing  I  aim  at.  How  great  an  enterprise 
in  this  kind  I  am  attempting,  and  with  what  small  helps, 
you  will  learn  perhaps  hereafter.  In  the  meantime  you 
would  do  me  a  very  great  pleasure  if  you  would  in  like 
manner  make  known  to  me  what  you  are  yourself  revolv- 
ing and  endeavoring  and  working  at.  For  I  hold  that 
conjunction  of  minds  and  studies  has  a  greater  part  in 
friendships  than  civil  ties  and  offices  of  occasion.  Surely 
I  think  no  man  could  ever  more  truly  say  of  himself  with 
the  Psalm  than  I  can,  '  My  soul  hath  been  a  stranger  in 
her  pilgrimage.'  So  I  seem  to  have  my  conversation 
among  the  ancients  more  than  among  these  with  whom 


570  LETTER  TO  CASAUBON.  [Book  IV. 

I  live.  And  why  should  I  not  likewise  converse  rather 
■with  the  absent  than  the  present,  and  make  my  friendships 
by  choice  and  election,  rather  than  suffer  them,  as  the 
manner  is,  to  be  settled  by  accident  ?  But  to  return  to 
my  purpose.  If  in  anything  my  friendship  can  be  of  use 
or  grace  to  you  or  yours,  assure  yourself  of  my  good  and 
diligent  service  :  and  so  biddeth  you  farewell 
"Your  friend,  etc." 


CHAPTER   n. 

A.  D.  1610.      ^TAT.  50. 

The  great  political  problem  which  the  times  of  James 
the  First  had  to  solve  had  been  kept  waiting  hitherto  by 
other  business,  but  could  not  be  kept  waiting  much  lon- 
ger. During  the  last  two  sessions  the  Union  and  the 
Gunpowder  Plot  had  prevented  the  question  how  the 
Crown  should  be  supplied  with  a  revenue  adequate  to  its 
wants  from  being  pushed  to  a  crisis  ;  the  discussion  of  the 
Union  having  occupied  the  time  of  the  Low^er  House, 
and  the  horror  of  the  conspiracy  having  disposed  them  to 
be  liberal.  But  even  in  1606,  when  their  excited  loyalty 
showed  itself  in  so  large  a  grant  —  a  grant  without  any 
precedent  in  a  time  of  peace  —  the  pertinacity  with 
which  they  insisted  that  the  petition  of  grievances  should 
be  presented  to  the  King  before  the  bill  of  the  three  sub- 
sidies went  up  to  the  Lords,^  gave  sure  sign  of  a  struggle 
to  come.  The  truth  was  that  the  business  of  government 
had  outgrown  the  provision  for  carrying  it  on.  The  or- 
dinary income  of  the  Crown  was  no  longer  equal  to  the 
ordinary  demands  upon  it.  Even  Elizabeth,  with  all  her 
power  of  obtaining  zealous  service  without  paying  for  it 
in  money,  and  with  a  practice  of  economy  in  all  depart- 
ments which  every  modern  historian  condemns  (in  re- 
spect to  the  particular  departments  which  he  happens 
himself  to  favor)  as  parsimony, —  parsimony  in  the  reward 
of  servants,  in  the  provisioning  of  armies,  in  the  keep- 
ing up  of  national  defenses,  in  the  subsidizing  of  allies, 

1  See  p.  479. 


572  STATE  OF  THE  EXCHEQUER.  [Book  IV. 

—  even  Elizabeth  could  not  carry  on  tlie  government  in 
ber  later  years  without  calling  upon  Parliament  for 
annual  contributions  far  beyond  all  former  precedent, 
nor  even  then  without  borrowing  money  to  the  amount 
of  a  whole  year's  income  and  selling  land  to  the  value  of 
as  much  more.  The  cause  was  simple  enough.  Large 
estates  are  costly  to  manage.  The  nation  had  increased 
greatly  in  wealth  and  population ;  the  business  and  cost 
of  government  had  increased  along  with  it :  but  the  fund 
out  of  which  the  cost  was  to  be  defrayed  was  compara- 
tively stationary.  As  the  kings  of  England  were  never 
merchants,  the  patrimony  of  the  Crown  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  grow  with  the  growth  of  a  nation  whose  com- 
mercial activity  was  bringing  honey  to  the  hive  from 
every  land  over  every  sea  ;  while  prices  were  rising  from 
the  influx  of  gold  into  Europe  ;  and  the  value  of  the 
Parliamentary  subsidy,  in  which  (as  being  a  direct  tax 
upon  real  and  personal  property)  a  proportionate  increase 
might  have  been  looked  for,  was,  for  some  reason  which 
I  do  not  clearly  understand,  gradually  diminishing. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause,  there  is  no  doubt 
about  this  fact :  and  it  is  important  enough  to  be  worth 
exhibiting  in  detail.  The  following  statement,  authen- 
ticated by  a  note  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Earl  of 
Salisbury,  is  preserved  among  the  State  Papers. 

A  coraparisoii  of  Subsidies  and   Fifteenths  drawn  down  from 
tlic  first  year  of  Q.  Eliz.  to  the  present  10th  of  Feb.  1609. 


Decrease 

Decrease 

every 

from  the 

viz.  in 

subsidy. 

first. 

1558      1° 

1  Subsidy  and  2  15»'» 

194326 

1562      5° 

19ir>CG     . 

2760     . 

2760 

15(55      8° 

....      1  15"' 

1.05794     . 

15772     . 

.      15772 

1570    13° 

....      2  1.^."" 

175690     . 

15900     . 

.      18636 

1575    180 

169192     . 

6494     . 

.      25134 

1580    230 

1G787G     . 

1316     . 

.     26450 

1584    270 

1C3546     . 

4330     . 

.     30780 

Decrease 

Decreajie 

every 

from  the 

subsidy. 

first. 

416 

.     31196 

2585 

.      33781 

7755 

.     41536 

11790 

.     53226 

6530 

.     59855 

10471 

.      70326 

1610.]  STATE  OF  THE  EXCHEQUER.  573 


TJ2.  in 

1587  29° 163130  . 

1589  31° 160545  . 

1593  350 152790  . 

1597  39° 141000  . 

1601  43° 134471  . 

3°  Jac 124000  . 

Note  that  all  these  decrease  rise  from  the  diminution  of  the 
Subsidies  of  the  Laity,  because  the  clergy  subsidy  and  the  fif- 
teenths of  the  Laity  are  certain. 

Thus  we  see  that  three  subsidies  in  the  beginning  of 
James's  reign  did  not  bring  so  many  pounds  into  the 
Exchequer  as  two  did  in  the  beginning  of  Elizabeth's, 
and  yet  three  subsidies  still  passed  for  much  the  more 
liberal  grant. 

This  state  of  tilings  James  inherited :  and  thouo;h  he 
inherited  along  with  it  a  portion  of  Elizabeth's  last  sub- 
sidies, they  were  not  more  than  enough  to  repay  the 
money  which  she  had  been  forced  to  borrow.  If  I  un- 
derstand correctly  the  financial  tables  which  Mr.  Gardiner 
has  collected  with  such  diligence,  the  ordinary  expendi- 
ture of  the  government  during  the  last  five  years  of  Eliza- 
beth must  have  exceeded  the  ordinary  receipts  by  more 
than  half  their  amount.  And  though  the  expenditure 
was  considerably  reduced  by  the  conclusion  of  peace  with 
Spain  and  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  in  Ireland,  Mr. 
Gardiner  himself  admits  that  for  a  few  years  an  annual 
deficiency  of  not  less  than  £30,000  (about  onetenth  of 
the  whole)  was  inevitable.  Whether  he  is  right  in  sup- 
posing that  an  Elizabethan  economy  steadil}'  pursued 
during  those  years,  together  with  judicious  measures  for 
improving  the  Crcwn  patrimony,  would  have  brought 
the  ordinary  charges  and  the  ordinary  receipts  to  an 
equality,  it  is  not  necessary  for  my  purposes  to  inquire. 
The  contingency  was  not  on  the  cards.     Even  if  James 


574  SALISBURY'S  FINANCIAL  POLICY.  [Bo..k  IV. 

had  been  ever  so  much  disposed  to  take  Elizabeth  for  his 
model  in  spending  money,  it  may  be  fairly  doubted 
whether  it  would  have  been  possible  for  him  to  endure 
the  unpopularity  which  it  would  have  entailed.  Elizabeth 
could  do  many  things  which  another  in  her  place,  even 
if  he  had  possessed  her  qualities,  could  not  have  done. 
The  whole  Protestant  population  of  England  then  living 
had  been  bred  in  devotion  to  her.  Her  age,  her  renown, 
her  demeanor,  her  genius,  combined  to  give  her  an  au- 
thority which  she  could  use  without  offense  even  in 
courses  of  which  the  people  are  commonly  very  intoler- 
ant. Had  James  entered  upon  his  kingdom  with  a  res- 
olution to  imitate  her,  —  to  be  as  strict  in  accounts,  as 
exigent  of  service,  as  sparing  in  rewards,  —  he  would 
have  incurred  more  dislike  for  his  parsimony  than  he 
ever  did  for  the  opposite,  nor  is  it  by  any  means  certain 
that  he  would  have  been  the  richer.  But  it  is  vain  to 
ask  what  might  have  been  the  consequences  of  such  a 
thing ;  the  thing  itself  could  not  have  been.  A  man 
cannot  alter  his  nature,  and  it  was  not  in  James's  nature 
to  be  an  economist.  He  was  a  man  who  could  not  easily 
deny  himself  any  pleasure,  and  unfortunately  one  of  his 
chief  })leasures  was  to  give  to  those  whom  he  liked  what- 
ever they  wished  to  have.  With  this  infirmity  he  bad 
reigned  for  six  years,  when  on  the  19th  of  April,  1608, 
his  Lord  Treasurer,  tlie  old  Earl  of  Dorset,  died,  leaving 
the  Exchequer  in  such  a  condition  as  might  have  been 
expected.  The  ordinary  expenditure  exceeded  the  ordi- 
nary income  by  £8-3,000.  The  debt  had  risen  to  a  million. 
And  this  at  a  time  when  the  regular  revenue  of  the 
Crown  was  expected  to  meet  all  its  ordinary  occasions 
without  assistances  from  Parliament. 

Salisbury,  who  w;is  immediately  made  Lord  Treasurer, 
hjst  no  tiiuf!  in  setting  his  l)rains  to  deal  with  the  diffi- 
culty ;  and  if  diligence,  subtlety,  activity,  and  finesse  had 
been   enough   for   the   task,  perhaps   no    man  was  more 


1610.]  SALISBURYS   FINANCIAL  POLICY.  575 

likely  to  succeed.     But  he  had  here  a  new  case  to  deal 
with;  and  it  would  appear  from  the  manner  in  wdiich  he 
began  that  he  did  not  at  first  understand  it.    Had  it  been 
possible   to   cure    the   complaint  without  calling   in  the 
House  of  Commons,  it  would  perhaps  have  been  prudent 
to  abstain  from  inviting  their  cooperation ;  for  it  is  not  to 
be  denied  that  a  public  admission  of  the  true  state  of  the 
case  was  not  without  its  dangers.     But  if  the  cooperation 
of  the  House  of  Commons  was  or  might  become  indis- 
pensable, it  was  of  prime  importance  to  avoid  all  proceed- 
ings likely  to  alarm  them  for  their  privileges.     One  of 
these  proceedings  was   the  laying  on  of  Impositions,  — 
the  imposition  of  duties,  by  authority  of  the  Crown  alone 
without  the  sanction  of  Parliament,  upon  goods  exported 
and  imported.     The  question  whether  the  King  had  a 
right  to  do  this  had  been  disputed  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  though  it  is  true  that  a  case   involving  that 
question  had  been  recently  argued  in   the  Court  of  Ex- 
chequer, and  that  the  Judges  had  decided  it  in  the  King's 
favor,  it  is  also  true  that  in  the  last  Parliament  that  very 
decision  had  been  complained  of  and  controverted,  and  it 
"Was  plain  that  it  had  by  no  means  set  the  question  at 
I'est.     It  was  one   of  those   stretches  of    Prerogative  of 
which  the  Commons  were  most  jealous;  and  with  most 
reason  :  for  to  concede  the  claim  in  its  full  extent  would 
have  been  to  make  over  the  commerce  of  the  nation  to 
be  taxed  at  pleasure  and  without  check.     Yet  the  very 
first  thing  Salisbury  did  after  he  was  made  Lord  Treas- 
urer was  to  stretch  this  very  power  further  than  it  had 
ever  been  stretched  before,  —  to  lay  on  at  one  clap,  by 
the  sole  virtue  of  this  disputed  right,  duties  to  the  amount 
of  .£60,000  a  year.     Whether  it  was  done  in  inconsider 
ate  haste,  as  the  readiest  shift  to  make  the  ordinary  re- 
ceipts equal  to  the  ordinary  expenditure,  and  stop  the  ac- 
cumulation of  debt;  or  whether  he  had  some  further  reach 
in  it  —  as  thinking  perhaps  to  enhance  the  value  of  a  pre- 


576  SALISBURY'S   FINANCIAL   POLICY.  [Book  IV 

rogative  which  he  meant  to  sell,  or  by  increasing  the  bur- 
den to  make  the  Commons  more  eager  for  the  removal 
of  it;  —  or  whether  it  was  merely  to  magnify  the  value 
of  his  own  services  in  the  King's  eyes,  make  him  feel 
that  he  could  not  spare  so  diligent  and  so  profitable  a 
minister,  and  thereby  establish  himself  in  his  new  seat ; 
I  cannot  say.  But  so  it  was.  There  is  a  carious  paper 
in  the  British  Museum,  drawn  up  by  Sir  Julius  Ctesar, 
who  was  then  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  It  contains 
a  journal  record  of  Salisbury's  services  during  the  first 
two  months  of  his  treasurership  ;  and  seems  to  have  been 
drawn  up  for  the  express  purpose  of  magnifying  to  the 
King  the  merits  of  his  new  Lord  Treasurer.  The  par- 
ticular business  of  the  Impositions  is  thus  recorded  :  — 

"Oil  Saturday  11  Junii,  the  Lord  Treasurer,  attended  by  the 
Chancellor  and  Barons  of  the  Exchequer,  went  to  the  Custom 
House,  and  there  in  tlie  assembly  of  the  chief  merchants  of 
England,  assembled  from  all  the  principal  parts  of  the  land,  did 
make  an  excellent  speech  to  prove  that  Impositions  might  law- 
fully be  imposed  by  sovereign  kings  and  princes  on  all  merchan- 
dises issuing  out  or  coming  into  their  ports  ;  —  that  no  king  or 
prince,  living  or  dead,  doth  or  ever  did  deserve  better  the  con- 
tinuance of  that  liberty  and  privilege  than  our  sovereign  King 
Jamos,  who  in  his  excellent  virtues,  natural,  moral,  and  polit- 
ical, surmounteth  all  other  kings  living  or  dead;  —  that  his 
present  necessities,  occasioned  for  the  use  of  the  public,  espe- 
cially for  Ireland,  contrary  to  his  own  will  and  the  admirable 
sweetness  of  his  own  natural  incliiuition,  have  occasioned  him 
to  use  this  lawful  and  just  means  of  prolit ;  —  which  speech  he 
had  no  sooner  knit  up  with  a  ])articular  nspctition  of  Impositions 
now  seeming  burdensome;  and  ordered  by  his  Majesty  for  the 
ease  of  his  subjf^cts  to  be  lightened,  and  likewise  most  things  of 
nccosKary  important  use  to  the  poor  to  be  excepted  from  any 
imi)OKition.  than  (rvcry  man,  after  some  little  contradicrtiou,  con- 
sented to  this  gf-ncral  imposition  now  established;  —  which  will 
prove  the  most  gainful  to  the  King  and  his  posttirity  of  any  one 
day's  work  done  \)\  any  (jne  Lord  Treasurer  since!  tin;  time  of 
King  Edward  III." 


ICIO.]  SALISBURY'S   FINANCIAL  POLICY.  577 

The  whole  journal  of  Salisbury's  services  during  these 
two  months  is  summed  up  in  these  words :  — 

"  He  hath  moreover  to  the  King's  great  honor  lessened  the 
Impositions  upon  the  commodities  of  currants,  sugars,  and  to- 
bacco. And  hath  to  the  King's  great  profit  and  the  benefit  of 
his  posterity,  increased  his  revenue  by  new  impositions  general 
upon  other  merchandises  to  the  value  of  £60,000  a  year.  And 
likewise  hath  raised  a  Hke  benefit  of  £10,000  a  year  increase 
upon  ale-houses  licensed 

"  So  that,  besides  his  other  continual  employments  both  in  this 
high  place  and  other  his  important  and  great  places,  he  hath  in 
the  space  of  two  months  and  twenty  days  directed  and  signed 
2,884  letters,  and  gotten  to  the  King  in  money  £37,455,  and  in 
yearly  revenues  £71,100;  which  I  dare  confidently  affirm  was 
never  done  by  any  Lord  Treasurer  of  England  in  two  years. 
God's  name  be  glorified  for  it,  and  honored  be  our  gracious 
Sovereign,  who  made  the  choice  of  so  diligent  and  faithful 
a  servant,  and  recommended  be  that  servant  who  hath  a  con- 
science to  discharge  his  duty  to  so  gracious  a  sovereign,  whose 
long  experienced  judgment  can  rightly  deem  of  men's  deserts, 
and  wisely  distinguish  between  truth  and  falsehood." 

All  this  was  done ;  but  all  was  not  enough,  nor  nearly- 
enough.  The  Crown  still  labored  under  a  debt  of 
£400,000,  and  a  lai-ge  annual  deficiency.  And  Salis- 
bury now  saw,  not  only  that  the  remedy  must  come 
from  Parliament,  but  that  since  the  precedents  of  Par- 
liament showed  no  instance  of  a  supply  at  all  adequate 
to  the  emergency,  some  new  occasion  must  be  created 
that  should  lie  out  of  the  region  of  precedents. 

The  scheme  which  he  devised  with  this  view  was  a 
large  and  imposing,  and  (had  it  been  wisely  digested  and 
prudently  carried)  might  have  proved  a  very  happy  one. 
The  revenue  of  the  Crown  was  in  those  days  drawn  from 
many  sources  besides  its  patrimonial  property ;  chiefly 
from  certain  tenures  and  privileges,  —  such  as  Ward- 
ships, Knight's  service,  Purveyance,  and  others, — rem- 

voi,.  I.  37 


578  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.  [Book  IV. 

nants  of  the  feudal  system,  which  the  times  were  fast 
outgrowing ;  privileges  which  had  come  to  be  burden- 
some to  the  people  in  a  degree  much  greater,  I  fanc}^ 
than  they  were  valuable  to  the  Crown,  and  what  was 
worse  (the  system  and  occasions  out  of  which  they  orig- 
inally grew  being  forgotten),  had  come  to  be  looked  on 
and  felt  as  grievances.  Yet  that  these  rights  did  belong 
to  the  Crown,  and  formed  a  regular  and  legitimate  source 
of  revenue,  was  not  disputed.  Here  therefore  were  all 
the  essential  elements  of  a  just  and  advantageous  ar- 
rangement for  both  parties.  A  fixed  revenue  of  equal 
amount  derived  from  taxation  would  have  been  better  for 
the  King ;  and  even  a  considerably  larger  revenue  so 
supplied  would  have  been  much  better  for  the  people. 
There  remained  only  the  old  difficulty  incident  to  all  the 
bargains  that  are  made  under  the  sun,  —  the  difficulty 
of  inducing  the  contracting  parties  to  deal  frankly  and 
openly,  with  just  and  reasonable  desires  on  both  sides; 
instead  of  higgling  and  trying  above  all  things  to  over- 
reach one  another,  or  (which  is  almost  as  bad)  taking 
care  above  all  things  not  to  be  ovei-reached.  It  must  be 
admitted,  however,  that  this  difficulty  was  in  this  par- 
ticular case  unusually  great.  The  Commons, — jealous, 
ambitious,  conscious  of  their  advantage,  many,  and  full 
of  lawyers;  —  the  King,  —  irritable,  impatient,  loose- 
tonguiul,  conscious  of  his  disadvantage  and  struggling  to 
face  it  out,  his  heart  full  of  anxiety  about  his  estate,  his 
mouth  full  of  prerogative  and  divine  right ;  —  how  were 
two  Kuch  parties  to  come  to  an  understanding  on  such  a 
subject?  Everything  would  of  course  depend  iij)nii  the 
discreet  f»])<>niiig  and  conducting  of  it  by  those  ministers 
who  stood  l)i'tw<'('ii  the  two  and  had  influence  with  both. 
The  history  uf  IIk;  negotiation  is  tin;  liistory  of  the  next 
B»*Hsion  of  I'arliiinicnt. 

In  in;iking  a  b;irgain,  to  Ix;  known  to  b(*  in  distiess  for 
money  is  a  groat   disadvantage,  and  therefoic  it   scmmus 


1610.]  THE   GREAT  CONTRACT.  579 

strange  that  so  old  a  politician  as  Salisbury,  in  negotiat- 
ing a  money-bargain  with  the  Commons  on  behalf  of  the 
King,  should  have  begun  with  a  public  and  official  proc- 
lamation of  the  King's  pecuniary  embarrassments,  and 
his  utter  inability  to  extricate  himself  without  a  very 
liberal  supply  from  the  benevolence  of  his  people.  There 
could  not  be  any  necessity  for  proceeding  so.  Whatever 
might  be  the  causes  in  which  the  proposition  originated, 
the  proposed  arrangement  both  professed  to  be  and  was 
for  the  good  of  the  state.  It  was  to  establish  the  neces- 
sary powers  and  revenues  of  the  Crown  upon  a  founda- 
tion less  inconvenient  for  the  people.  In  the  days  of  the 
strong  hand  the  Crown  had  been  used  to  take  the  lion's 
share  of  everything.  As  arbitrary  power  was  gradually 
brought  under  regulation  and  restricted  by  limitations 
and  definitions,  the  customs  which  had  thus  grown  up 
were  left  within  the  line  and  allowed  as  lawful.  The 
share  which  the  lion  had  claimed  was  secured  to  him,  not 
on  the  original  ground  that  he  was  strong  enough  to  take 
what  he  pleased,  but  as  being  the  share  which  properly 
belonged  to  the  lion  and  was  sanctioned  by  law.  Hence 
it  came  that  in  inheriting  the  Crown  King  James  had  in- 
herited a  great  many  rights,  royalties,  immunities,  and 
unfair  advantages,  which  belonged  to  it  and  formed  part 
of  its  regular  income.  These  rights,  royalties,  etc.,  though 
they  affected  only  a  few  persons,  were  troublesome  and 
vexatious  to  those  on  whom  they  fell,  and  the  money 
which  they  yielded  could  have  been  supplied  much  more 
conveniently  to  the  people  at  large  by  a  general  tax, 
which  lying  equally  on  all  would  not  have  lain  heavily 
on  any.  There  could  have  been  no  difficulty  in  submit- 
ting to  the  House  of  Commons,  as  a  measure  for  the  good 
of  the  commonwealth  without  any  reference  to  the  neces- 
sities of  the  Crown,  the  expediency  of  relieving  the  peo- 
ple from  these  liabilities  on  condition  of  providing  other- 
wise for  the  revenue  they  brought.     The  terms  of  the 


580  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.  [Book  IV. 

bargain  would  still  have  been  open  ;  and  tlie  less  the 
Commons  knew  of  the  straits  in  which  the  King  was 
placed,  the  better  would  have  been  the  chance  of  settling 
them  favorably. 

Salisbury,  however,  for  some  reason  or  other,  took  the 
opposite  course  ;  and  it  is  plain  that  be  took  it  advisedly  ; 
for  he  had  everything  ready,  he  made  the  first  move,  and 
he  began  at  once. 

The  Houses  met  on  the  9th  of  February,  1609-10 ;  and 
the  Commons  had  scarcely  found  time  to  ventilate  tbe 
uppermost  grievances,  when  they  were  invited  by  the 
Lords  to  a  conference,  "for  consideration  to  be  had  for 
some  necessary  supplies  to  be  yielded  unto  his  Majesty." 

The  conference  took  place  on  Thursday  the  15th,  and 
the  proceedings  were  reported  to  the  House  on  the  Satur- 
day following.  It  seems  they  consisted  entirely  of  a 
speech  from  Salisbury,  which  divided  itself  into  three 
parts.  The  first,  which  related  merely  to  the  coming 
creation  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  seems  to  liave  con- 
tained nothing  but  stories  out  of  the  Clironicles,  was  re- 
ported by  the  Attorney  General.  The  second,  which  was 
the  main  business,  and  a  very  delicate  one  to  deal  with 
—  being  nothing  less  than  an  exhibition  of  the  balance- 
sheet,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  the  King  could  not 
support  his  position  without  help  —  was  undertaken  by 
Bacon.  We  have  no  report  of  what  he  said  sufficiently 
full  to  show  how  he  presented  it  to  the  House;  but  it 
appears  that  Salisbury  concluded  his  exposition  of  the 
King's  need  of  help  from  Parliament,  with  "a  preoccupa- 
tion of  some  silent  objections  "  and  a  suggesti(m  of  some 
"  matters  of  enforcement  to  excite  them  to  yield  unto 
tin;  King's  desire."  These  last  related  to  apprehended 
disturbances  on  the  continent,  and  especially  "  the  com- 
j)etilion  for  the  Diicliy  f)f  Cleves,  wherein  the  Einpei-or, 
taking  iijion  liim  to  be  judge,  hail,  without  lieaiiuL;-  tin; 
rause,  sent    lln-   l»i,Nhi>p  td  t;il<e  possession  i'or  llie   liouse  of 


1610.]  CONTRIBUTION  AND  RETRIBUTIOX.  581 

Austria ;  and  on  this  side  the  French  King  and  our  King 
joined  to  take  part  with  the  other,  not  because  of  his  re- 
ligion onl}',  for  that  his  right  and  religion  concurred  to- 
gether;  "  —  an  enterprise  which,  on  the  ground  of  policy 
as  well  as  charity,  deserved  their  support. 

We  have  seen  that  Bacon,  meditating  a  year  and  a  half 
before  on  the  dangers  of  an  enipt}^  exchequer,  looked  to 
some  enterprise  of  this  kind  as  the  best  remedy ;  and  if 
he  had  set  down  his  notes  in  December,  1609,  instead  of 
July,  1608,  he  would  probably  have  pointed  to  this  "  suc- 
cession controversy  to  the  Cleve  Duchies,"  —  now  "  com- 
ing to  be  a  very  high  matter,  mixing  itself  up  with  the 
grand  Protestant-Papal  conti'oversy,  the  general  armed- 
lawsuit  of  mankind  in  that  generation,"  in  the  decision 
of  which  "  Kaiser,  Spaniard,  Dutch,  English,  French 
Henri  IV.,  and  all  mortals  were  getting  concerned,"  ^  — 
for  the  likeliest  solution  of  the  difficulty  he  was  consid- 
ering—  the  offer  of  an  enterprise  in  which  the  Crown 
might  engage  with  assurance  of  carrying  the  sympathy 
and  ambition  of  the  people  along  with  it ;  only  I  think 
he  would  have  put  it  in  the  front  rather  than  in  the  rear ; 
and  instead  of  using  it  to  enforce  a  demand  for  supplies, 
would  have  treated  the  proposed  supply  as  a  mere  inci- 
dent of  the  enterprise,  and  necessary  condition  of  success. 

Salisbury  preferred  to  put  the  demand  for  money  upon 
the  simple  ground  that  the  King  had  need  of  it.  For 
when  he  came  to  speak  of  "  retribution,"  which  was  the 
third  and  remaining  part  of  his  statement  to  the  confer- 
ence, he  appears  to  have  been  studiously  vague.  The 
notes  that  remain  of  the  report  made  by  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys  of  this  part  of  his  speech  leave  the  nature  of  his 
proposal  altogether  indefinite  and  obscure:  and  so  it  seems 
to  have  been  found  by  those  who  heard  it.  "  The  retri- 
bution to  proceed  from  his  Majesty"  was  "a  general  re- 
dress of  all  just  grievances."     But  what  kind  of  things 

1  Carlyle,  Hist,  of  Frederic  the  Great,  vol.  i.,  p.  308,  Eng.  ed. 


582  CONTRIBUTION  AND  RETRIBUTION.  [Book  IV. 

were  admitted  to  be  grievances,  and  what  kind  of  redress 
was  to  be  looked  for,  remained  doubtful.  Insomuch  that 
when  the  whole  subject  of  "  contribution  and  retribu- 
tion "  was  referred  to  the  Genei*al  Committee  of  Griev- 
ances (a  reference  inevitable,  as  the  thing  was  carried, 
though  of  no  good  omen),  they  found  they  could  make  no 
advance  without  fii'st  knowing  what  they  were  at  liberty 
to  treat  for.  Tenures  and  Wardships  had  indeed  been 
mentioned  in  Salisbury's  speech  ;  but  it  was  in  a  manner 
so  ambiguous  that  "  that  motion  was  conceived  by  some 
to  be  but  as  a  lure  to  the  subject,  to  draw  him  on  to  a 
greater  contributiou  :  "  and  therefore  it  was  resolved 
(February  21)  in  the  first  place  to  ascertain  from  the 
Lords  in  another  conference  "  what  those  things  were 
which  his  Majesty  intended  to  give  to  his  subjects  by 
way  of  retribution  ;"  and  if  Wardships  and  Tenures  were 
not  named,  then  to  inquire  particularly  whether  or  no  they 
were  to  be  considered  as  among  them. 

The  first  question  being  proposed  first,  Salisbury  began 
by  expressing  surprise  at  the  proceeding.  The  King  had 
summoned  the  Parliament  avowedly  because  he  was  in 
want ;  and  they  replied  by  asking  what  he  had  to  give ! 
He  was  ready,  however,  to  explain  more  particularly  what 
was  wantiid  ;  and  after  recounting  again  the  various  oc- 
casions whicli  had  exhausted  the  Exchequer,  he  told  theni 
plainly  that  "  the  demand  of  the  King  was  double  ;  Sup- 
pit/,  to  dis(!harge  his  debt ;  and  Support,  to  maintain  liis 
estate:  "  and  namely,  for  the  first,  £600,000  ;  for  the  sec- 
ond, £200,000  per  aniuini.  And  here,  it  seems, —  with- 
out ofFc-ring  any  answer  to  the  question  which  tiicy  had 
come  to  ask,  —  lie  stopped  and  awaited  their  reply. 

Their  reply  was  in  effec^t  a  repetition  of  the  question. 
Until  "  tliey  knew  the  King's  pleasure,  what  hr.  were 
willing  to  d«'pait  withal  to  the  sul)ject,"  they  could  not 
"determine  of  any  yarly  contribution:"  and  for  the 
deniand   now  made,  it  was  "in   nature  transcendent,  and 


IGIO.]  PROPOSED  CONCESSIONS.  583 

in  precedent  very  rare,"  and  the}^  could  say  notliing  with- 
out further  instruction  from  the  House. 

After  this  we  are  told  that  there  was  a  pause  of  silence : 
whether  because  Salisbury  still  hoped  to  commit  them  to 
the  price  before  he  showed  the  goods,  or  because  he  had 
not  quite  made  up  his  mind  how  far  to  go,  may  remain  a 
question.  But  after  waiting  a  little  and  finding  that  nc 
further  answer  was  forthcoming,  they  proceeded  to  the 
second  part  of  their  commission :  "  Would  it  please  his 
IMajesty  that  they  might  treat  concerning  the  discharge 
of  Tenures  ?  " 

To  this  Salisbury  replied,  that  he  must  consult  the 
rest  of  the  Lords  before  he  could  give  them  an  answer  on 
that  point :  but  meanwhile  (having  now,  I  suppose,  had 
time  enougli  to  consider  his  course)  he  proceeded  to  give 
them  a  tolerably  full  repl}^  to  their  first  question. 

He  told  them  that  for  matters  of  sovereignty  inherent 
in  him,  such  as  the  calling  of  Parliament,  the  stamping 
of  coin,  the  proclaiming  of  war,  —  with  these  the  King 
could  not  part:  that  for  matters  of  justice,  and  protec- 
tion of  his  subjects,  and  redress  of  all  just  grievances,  — 
for  these  he  could  not  bargain  :  he  had  already  taken  an 
oath  to  give  them  freely  :  but  that  there  remained  some 
other  points  of  prerogative  which,  being  burdensome  to 
the  people  and  yet  belonging  of  right  to  the  Crown,  "  he 
might  haply  be  persuaded  upon  good  consideration  to 
yield  unto  his  subjects :  "  and  of  these  he  gave  the  follow- 
ing examples :  — 

1.  To  be  bound  by  the  statute  of  limitation  of  32  H.  8  as 
subjects  are,  and  to  give  away  that  part  of  his  prerogative,  Nul- 
lum temptis  occurrit  Regi.  What  a  jewel  were  this,  said  he,  if 
ihe  King  would  part  with  it  ? 

'1.  Right  of  purveyance,  which  were  a  great  ease  and  content- 
ment to  the  subject,  if  it  were  extinguished. 

3.  The  changing  of  a  maxim  of  the  hiw  Ldentio  Regis  est  reg- 
ula  legis.     And  that  all  tlie  King's  grants  should  be  taken  in  a 


584    SUPPRESSION  OF  COWELL'S  LAW  DICTIONARY.      [Book  IV. 

favorable  construction  to  the  subject.  As  if  the  King  grant 
the  manor  of  Dale,  and  he  have  two  manors  there,  this  now  is  a 
void  grant,  etc. 

4.  Informers  to  be  taken  away  (which  are  all  beggars  and 
knaves)  and  to  proceed  by  way  of  indictment. 

5.  Remission  of  old  debts  from  1  H.  7  until  30  Eliz.,  and 
since  then  also  upon  good  consideration. 

6.  Forfeitures  not  to  be  taken  by  the  King  for  nonpayment 
of  rents  reserved. 

7.  No  injunction  for  possession  to  be  granted  upon  an  infor- 
mation in  the  Exchequer,  and  the  general  issue  pleaded. 

8.  The  friends  of  every  ward  to  have  the  wardship  at  certain 
reasonable  rates.  And  the  Committee  to  receive  no  more  than 
he  pays. 

9.  License  of  alienation  to  be  granted  at  certain  reasonable 
rates,  viz.  3  years  rent  after  the  old  rent,  for  20  pence  in  times 
past  was  as  much  as  5  shillings  is  now. 

10.  Respect  of  homage  to  be  taken  in  the  country  before 
commissioners,  without  such  charge  and  trouble  as  now  is. 

All  these  he  told  them  that  they  were  at  liberty  to 
deal  with  by  way  of  bargain  :  for  the  main  matter  of 
Tenures  and  Wardships  they  would  send  an  answer  as 
soon  as  they  had  learned  the  King's  pleasure. 

Such  was  the  result  of  the  conference  :  and  it  was  a 
step  gained  :  for  they  could  now  begin  to  calculate  the 
value  of  the  ten  points  which  were  olTered.  But  though 
it  took  ])lace  on  the;  25th  of  February,  it  was  not  reported 
to  the  House  till  tlie  27th.  This  was  owing  to  a  lively 
interlude  with  whic^li  they  were  occupied  in  the  interval  ; 
and  which,  though  unimportant  (as  it  turned  out)  in  its 
beai'ing  u[)on  the  present  question,  is  too  important  in  its 
ix'uriiig  upon  f)ther  questions  which  we  shall  have  to  deal 
with  liercafU'r,  to  be  passed  by  without  noti<;e. 

The  Committee  of  Grievances,  whicli  in  the  absence 
of  other  matters  for  negotiation  was  very  busy  all  this 
time,  in  inviting  and  investigating  matters  of  complaint 
from  all   quarters,  had  received  information  that  a  law 


1610.]        SUPPRESSION  OF  COWELL'S  LAW  DICTIONARY.  585 

dictionary,  published  two  years  before  by  the  Regius 
Professor  of  Civil  Law  in  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
contained  some  opinions  derogatory  to  Parliament  and 
dangerous  to  liberty.  Finding  the  information  to  be  cor- 
rect, they  brought  the  matter  before' the  House.  Where- 
upon all  other  business  was  suspended  ;  and  if  they  had 
met  with  any  opposition  in  their  course,  the  further 
consideration  of  Supply  and  Support  might  have  been 
postponed  indefinitely.  Fortunately,  however,  for  the 
progress  of  business  (and  perhaps  for  himself,  too),  Dr. 
Cowell,  like  the  Bishop  of  Bristol  on  a  former  very  sim- 
ilar occasion,!  had  no  friends.  The  Lords  were  ready 
to  join  in  censure  :  the  King  to  issue  a  Proclamation, 
prohibiting  "  the  buying,  uttering,  or  reading "  of  his 
book ;  commanding  all  persons  who  possessed  copies  to 
take  them  presently  to  the  Lord  Mayor,  the  Sheriff  of 
the  County,  the  Chancellor  or  Vice  Chancellor  of  the 
University  (which  ever  was  nearest),  "that  further  order 
might  be  given  for  the  utter  suppression  thereof :  "  and 
"  because  there  should  be  better  oversight  of  books  of  all 
sorts  before  they  come  to  the  press,  "  announcing  a  resolu- 
tion to  "  make  choice  of  Commissioners  that  shall  look 
more  narrowly  into  the  nature  of  all  those  things  that 
shall  be  put  to  the  press  either  concerning  our  authority 
royal,  or  concerning  our  government,  or  the  laws  of  our 
kingdom  ;  from  whom  a  more  strict  account  shall  be 
yielded  unto  us  than  hath  been  used  heretofore. "  Which 
proclamation,  being  read  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Speaker  on 
the  27th  of  March,  gave  such  satisfaction  to  the  guardians 
of  liberty,  that  they  immediately  passed  the  following 
resolutions :  — 

"  The  Committee    for  Privileges  to   prepare   an  order 
touching  this   Proclamation  :   For  ever  to  remain  here. 

"  Mr.  Chancellor  to  go  and  give  thanks  presently  to 
his  Majesty." 

^  See  ante,  p.  458. 


586  INQUIRIES  AND   ANSWERS.  [Book  IV. 

These  resolutions,  wlncli  should  not  be  forgotten  when 
the  Proclamation  is  remembered,  were  passed  on  the 
27th  of  March  ;  a  full  month  after  the  iirst  discovery  of 
the  offending  sentences  and  the  shock  of  alarm  which  it 
produced.  It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  noth- 
ing else  was  done  during  that  month.  The  unanimity 
of  Commons,  Lords,  and  King  in  the  censure  of  Dr. 
Cowell  was  in  fact  so  perfect  from  the  first  that  as  early 
as  the  afternoon  of  the  27th  of  February,  the  Lower 
House  was  at  leisure  to  hear  the  report  of  Salisbury's 
answer  to  their  last  inquiries,  and  to  consider  what  they 
.should  do.  The  report  being  delivered,  a  long  debate 
followed,  in  the  course  of  which  Bacon  made  a  speech : 
his  aim  being  (for  the  notes  are  too  fragmentary  to  con* 
vey  more  than  the  general  purport)  to  recommend  som^ 
course  which  without  committing  them  prematurely  in  the 
matters  of  contract,  would  leave  no  doubt  of  their  inten- 
tion to  be  liberal  in  subsidies,  after  the  ancient  pattern ; 
and  to  remind  them  of  the  interest  they  all  had  in  the  rerv' 
utiition  of  harmony  between  King  and  people,  and  of  the 
dangers  which  "  noise  of  want  "  might  entail.  And  the 
conclusion  of  the  debate  was  in  accordance  with  this  view: 
for  tht^  final  resolution  was  simply  to  inform  the  Lords 
that  for  Hupplij  they  knew  of  no  way  but  subsidy,  which 
they  would  tak<i  into  consideration  in  due  time  and  do 
therein  that  which  should  become  loving  and  dutiful  sub- 
jects ;  and  for  support  \\\e.y  must  wait  for  their  Lordsliips' 
answer-  to  their  inquiry  whether  Tenures  were,  among  the 
lhiiit;.s  in  treaty. 

The  ;insw(n'  when  it  (!ame  (it  was  given  on  the  2(1  of 
March  and  reportecl  by  Bacon  to  the  TIous(>  on  the  r)th), 
was  indecisive^  and  was  met  by  a  message  desiring  a 
fiirthe.r  conference  on  the  matter  of  Tenures  :  the  object 
being  "  to  urge  rciasons  that  might  remove  ol)structions," 
ami  the  task  being  assigned  to  liacon.  The  conference 
took  placfj  on  Thursday  the  8th  of  March,  1609-10,  and 


liilO  J  TERMS   PROPOSED   BY   THE  COMMONS.  587 

Bacnn's  piivt  was  to  persuade  the  Lords  to  join  with  the 
C'oinmons  in  petition  to  the  King  for  liberty  to  treat  of  a 
composition  for  Wards  and  Tenures. 

The  Lords  assented,  and  the  joint  petition  procured 
a  very  gracious  answer  ;  which  was  delivered  by  the  Earl 
of  Northampton  on  the  12th  of  March,  and  reported  to 
the  House  on  the  14th ;  and  was  understood  as  giving 
them  "  liberty  to  treat  concerning  the  discharge  of  Ten- 
ures and  all  dependencies  thereof."  To  which  work  they 
accordingly  addressed  themselves  at  once  ;  and  with  so 
good  a  will  that  by  the  26th  of  March  they  were  ready 
with  their  proposition :  which  was  shortly  this :  that 
Knights'  service  generally  should  be  turned  into  free  and 
common  socage  ;  in  return  for  which  "  they  offer  to  the 
King  an  hundred  thousand  pounds  yearly  ;  wherein  they 
do  include  all  the  esse  and  the  posse  which  the  King  ever 
had  of  the  matter  afore  desired  to  be  compounded  for." 

If  the  King  had  not  been  known  to  be  in  such  urgent 
need  of  money,  there  might  have  been  good  policy  in 
making  difficulties  and  proceeding  slowly.  The  Com- 
mons being  really  desirous  to  conclude  an  arrangement 
such  as  seemed  to  be  proposed,  an  affectation  of  indiffer- 
ence on  the  other  side  might  in  that  case  have  induced 
them  to  make  haste  lest  they  should  lose  their  chance. 
But  the  difficulties  of  the  King  having  been  not  only 
proclaimed  but  demonstrated  by  figures  —  the  intolerable 
and  inextricable  embarrassments  of  the  Crown  having 
been  laid  as  the  ground  of  the  whole  proceeding  —  while 
the  people  could  hold  on  well  enough  as  they  were  — 
there  could  be  no  doubt  that  delay  was  more  inconven- 
ient to  him  than  to  them.  It  is  true  that  historians  speak 
of  people  "groaning"  under  exactions,  as  if  all  the  pop- 
ulation were  miserable  when  a  few  are  unjustly  taxed ; 
and  I  suppose  there  never  was  a  time  in  any  country 
when  many  respectable  witnesses  were  not  ready  to  show 
that  all  things  were  going  to  ruin.     But  that  in  the  year 


688  TERMS   PKOPOSKD   BY    FHE  COMMONS         [Book  IV. 

1610  the  people  of  England  were  generally  either  in  dis- 
tress or  in  fear  of  distress  is  certainly  not  true.  Purvey- 
ors and  informers  and  farmers  of  Crown  revenues  were 
harassing  many  particular  persons  and  causing  a  great 
deal  of  general  annoyance  and  irritation  ;  but  the  burdens 
from  which  the  people  were  crying  to  be  relieved  were  by 
no  means  so  intolerable  as  to  drive  them  to  purchase  relief 
at  an  extravagant  price.  The  whole  nation  was  growing, 
richer  :  the  Lower  House  was  becoming  every  year  more 
powerful,  and  was  sure  to  win  if  it  had  patience  to  wait. 
Not  so  tlie  King.  To  him  delay  was  dangerous  in  more 
ways  than  one.  Salisbury,  when  he  first  called  upon  the 
Commons  for  so  large  a  grant  of  money,  had  promised  on 
the  King's  part,  by  way  of  retribution,  the  redress  of  all 
just  grievances.  It  followed  of  course  that  they  imme- 
diately set  about  collecting  their  grievances:  and  every 
day's  delay  not  only  added  to  the  list  and  inflamed  dis- 
contents, but  brought  them  nearer  to  a  question  which 
lay  inevitably  in  the  way  and  threatened  an  ij-reconcil- 
aV)le  quarrel.  Tiiat  a  Committee  of  Grievances  could  get 
through  such  an  inquiry  in  such  circumstances  without 
falling  upon  the  question  of  Impositions,  was  not  to  be 
hoped.  Salisbury's  vaunted  day's  work  had  made  that 
impossible  :  for  until  it  were  determined  whether  so  large 
and  indefinite  a  power  as  that  of  sotting  duties  upon  im- 
j)orts  and  exports  at  his  own  will  belonged  to  the  King 
or  not,  it  was  impossible  to  estimate  the  value  of  any 
grant  th«*y  might  agree  upon.  And  yet  to  this  inquiry, 
so  manifestly  unavoidable,  no  provision  whatciver  seems 
to  liave  been  made  for  securing  a  peaceable  issue.  ITow 
Salisbury  e\'[)ected  to  give  it  the  slip,  it  is  (li(Ii<;ult  to 
guess.  Jiut  it  is  clear  that  th(;  game  did  not  go  as  he  had 
planned  it,  and  he  had  to  shift  his  ground  more  than  once. 
My  own  conjeetuic;  is  that  he  had  counted  on  carr} ing 
the  vote  of  supply  befons  the  discussion  of  grievances 
«ould  be  brought  to  a  crisis,  and  thereby  getting  money 


1610.]  TERMS  PROPOSED  BY  THE  COMMONS.  589 

enoufjh  to  so  on  with  for  a  while  ;  so  that  a  Pavliament- 
ary  difficulty  might,  if  necessary,  be  got  rid  of  by  a 
dissolution.  He  was  constitutionally  sanguine  and  bold  ; 
and  having  seen  on  more  occasions  than  one  that  the 
Commons  were  apt  to  be  very  forward  and  liberal  in  vot- 
ing  supplies  when  any  accident  tending  to  bring  them  into 
jiassionate  sj^mpathy  with  the  Government  had  warmed 
their  loyalty,  he  may  perhaps  have  hoped  that  in  their 
first  glow  of  gratitude  for  the  concessions  which  the  King 
promised  they  would  be  eager  to  express  it  by  a  liberal 
contribution  :  which  being  once  secured,  the  Crown  would 
have  been  relieved  from  its  immediate  difficulty  and  able 
to  conclude  the  rest  of  the  negotiation  with  advantage, 
or  to  throw  it  overboard  without  fear  of  the  immediate 
consequences.  To  suppose,  indeed,  that  at  the  com- 
mencement of  a  negotiation  which  was  avowedly  in  the 
nature  of  a  bargain  they  would  deliberately  relieve  the 
King  from  the  very  difficulty  which  was  avowedly  his 
motive  for  proposing  it,  was  to  give  them  credit  either 
for  greater  dullness  or  for  more  reckless  generosity  than 
could  well  be  expected  from  a  body  of  that  character. 
But  cunning  is  apt  to  overreach  itself,  and  Salisbury's 
genius  was  not  long-sighted.  At  any  rate  we  shall  find 
that  they  understood  their  advantage  and  did  not  mean 
to  throw  it  away. 

They  had  submitted  their  offer  to  the  Lords  on  the 
26th  of  March,  a  few  days  before  the  Easter  recess,  and 
were  already  busy  again  with  their  collection  of  griev- 
ances, when  on  the  19th  of  April  they  were  invited  to  a 
conference  to  hear  the  answer.  The  Lords  had  consid- 
ered the  proposition,  and  had  communicated  it  to  the 
King,  whose  decision   they  reported  in  these  words :  — 

"  He  would  upon  uo  terras  depart  with  any  part  of  his  sov- 
ereign Prerogative,  whereof  the  tenure  in  capite  of  his  person, 
which  is  all  one  as  of  his  Crown,  is  no  small  branch:  But, 
'ouching   the  dependents    upon  such    Tenures,  videlicet  Ward- 


590  UNEXPECTED  ANSWER  FKOM  SALISBURY.    [Book  IV. 

ships,  Marriage,  Primier  Seizin,  Relief,  Respect  of  Homage,  and 
the  like,  which  be  the  only  burdens  of  these  Tenures  (the  honor 
and  Tenures  reserved)  His  Majesty  is  pleased  when  he  shall 
have  understood  what  recompense  will  be  therefor  offered  unto 
him.  with  convenient  speed,  to  give  further  answer  for  contract- 
ing for  the  same." 

To  this  tlie  Commons  assented  at  once,  without  any 
difficulty.  They  were  content  that  the  King  shouhl  re- 
tain the  honor :  the  recompense  they  were  prepared  to 
offer  for  relief  from  the  burdens  incident  to  the  Tenures 
was  the  same  which  they  had  already  offered  for  relief 
from  the  Tenures  themselves,  —  X100,000  per  annum. 
What  did  he  say  to  tliis  offer  ? 

The  question  Avas  asked  at  a  conference  on  the  26th 
of  April,  and  answered  by  Salisbury  in  a  long  speech,  of 
which  (though  it  was  felt  at  the  time  to  be  so  important 
that  a  sub-committee  was  specially  appointed  to  "  con- 
sider of  the  report  and  assign  a  reporter,"  the  notes  in 
the  Commons'  Journals  are  not  complete  enough  to  be 
intelligiblt',  while  (singularly  enough)  the  Joui-nals  of 
the  Lords  contain  no  record  of  it  at  all.  It  so  ha}>pens, 
]iowev(n",  that  an  unusually  full  report  of  the  speech  of 
Sir  Edwin  Sandys  (who  was  chosen  by  the  sub-committee 
for  their  spokesman)  is  preserved  among  the  Harleian 
MSS.  ;  and  from  this  we  learn  what  the  next  move  in 
the  game  was  —  a  move  quite  unlooked  for  at  the  time, 
and  very  difficult  to  explain  even  now. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  when  the  Commons  were 
asked  for  their  answer  to  the  King's  demand  of  £200,000 
annual  support,  they  replied  that  they  could  give  no 
answer  until  tlicy  knciw  "what  those  things  were  whicli 
His  Majesty  intended  to  give  his  subjects  by  way  of 
retribution,"  and  in  particular  whether  Wardship  was 
among  them:  implying  of  course  that  when  they  offered 
the  money  they  offered  it  in  consideration  of  the  remis- 
sion of    those    bui'dcn.s,  and    pirticularly  of   Wardships, 


1610.]  UNEXPECTED   ANSWER  FROJI  S.AXISBURY.  591 

The  same  uiulerstanding  was  implied  in  Salisbury's  first 
answer  (21  February)  when  he  enumerated  ten  points 
of  prerogative  Arhich  "  his  jMajesty  might  haply  be  per- 
suaded upon  go^d  consideration  to  jueld  uuto  his  sub- 
jects," —  that  is.  for  which  they  might  deal  by  way  of 
bargain,  —  but  distinctly  reserved  the  question  whether 
Wardships  were  to  be  included.  It  was  implied  again 
in  the  rejoinder  to  that  reply  (27  February),  when  the 
Commons  intimated  that  they  could  say  nothing  as  to 
the  matter  of  "support"  until  that  question  were  an- 
swered. It  was  implied  throughout  Bacon's  speech,  to 
the  Lords  (8  March)  moving  them  to  join  in  petition  for 
liberty  to  treat  of  a  composition  with  the  King  for  Wards 
and  Tenures,  with  a  view  to  "  invest  the  Crown  ^vitli  a 
more  ample,  more  certain,  and  more  loving  dowry  than 
this  of  Tenures  ;  "  which  could  only  mean  to  provide  such 
a  dowry  in  exchange  for  the  revenue  they  now  yielded. 
It  was  implied  in  the  answer  to  that  petition  delivered 
by  the  Earl  of  Northampton  on  the  12th  of  March,  which 
was  accepted  and  immediately  acted  on  as  granting  them 
the  liberty  they  asked.  It  was  implied  in  the  terms  of 
their  first  offer  (26  March)  and  in  the  first  answer  to 
that  offer  (20  April),  when  tlie  King,  in  refusing  to  part 
with  the  Tenures,  signified  his  readiness  to  contract  for 
the  discharge  of  the  burdens  incident  to  them  (Wardship 
being  specially  named  as  one)  when  he  should  have  un- 
derstood what  recompense  would  be  offered.  But  now 
on  the  26tli  of  April  it  appeared  that  there  had  been 
some  misapprehension.  For  after  reminding  them  that 
they  had  "offered  for  the  tenures  and  wardships,  with 
all  other  their  incidents,  £100,000  by  the  year,  not 
reserving  that  benefit  which  the  Crown  now  maketh  by 
theyn"  Salisbury  proceeded  to  "  crave  pardon  that  he 
was  somewhat  too  cui'ious  not  to  mistake  them  :  for  he 
feared  lest  some  want  in  himself  in  conveying  those 
things  to  them-  which  the  King  propounded  had  made 


592  CONDITIONS   DEMANDED   BY   THE  KING.        [Book  IV. 

them  more  obscure  than  they  would  have  been  if  they 
had  been  rightly  and  exactly  delivered."  He  feared  (it 
seems)  that  when  he  told  them  that  the  King  was  ready 
to  part  with  those  ten  points  of  prerogative  b}'^  way  of 
"retribution"  for  the  X 200,000  per  annum  which  he 
demanded,  and  when  they  wei'e  afterwards  told  that  they 
might  include  Wardships  with  them,  they  had  supposed 
him  to  mean  that  the  King  was  ready  to  part  with  them 
in  exchange  for  £200,000  per  annum;  — that  £200,000 
per  annum  was  to  be  tlie  price  of  them.  But  it  was  not 
so.«  The  sum  originally  demanded  was  not  meant  to  form 
any  part  of  the  price  of  these  prerogatives ;  it  was  to  be 
merely  a  negative  condition  —  a  sine  qud  non  —  of  nego- 
tiation ;  the  price  of  the  concession,  not  of  the  prerogative 
itself,  but  of  the  liberty  to  offer  money  for  it.  Let  them 
vote  £600,000  supply  and  assure  to  the  King  £200,000 
annual  support,  and  the  King  would  then  be  willing  to 
part  with  Wardships  and  the  like,  upon  payment  of  a  fur- 
ther snni  equal  to  what  he  would  lose  hij  giving  them  up. 

Whether  the  King  had  changed  his  inind,  or  whether 
Salisbury  had  persuaded  liira  to  keep  it  to  himself  till 
now,  but  could  persuade  him  no  longer,  —  or  whether  he 
had  not  been  correctly  informed  of  what  had  passed  be- 
fore—  or  however  it  came  about  —  I  cannot  understand 
the  words  in  any  other  sense  than  tliis,  "  When  demand 
of  £200,000  per  annum  and  £000,000  was  made,  there 
was  no  thought  (saith  the  King)  that  he  should  part 
with  the  Wards.  Nay  (saith  the  King)  and  so  say  we, 
there  was  no  thought  of  divers  charges  whicli  since 
seemed  necessary And  if  we  thought  then  with- 
out Tenures  that  demand  to  be  just,  shall  we  now,  cast- 
ing in  the  Wards,  think  it  enough?  ....  He  saith  not 
£100,000  is  too  much  or  too  little  for  the  AVards  ;  but 
the  Ward«  is  too  much  for  anything  that  shall  come  short 
of  the  King's  first  demand The  conclusion  there- 
fore was  that  uid«;ss  we  offered  that  which   might  give 


IGIO.J  CONDITIONS  DEMANDED  BY   THE  KING.  598 

the  King  a  complete  satisfaction,  not  reddendo  singula 
singulis,  but  sub  tota  materia,  X200,000  a  year  above 
whatsoever  we  defalked  from  him  by  our  contract,  the 
Wards  will  not  be  had.  And  if  that  may  be  made  up, 
then  take  (quoth  his  Lordship)  Wards,  Purveyance,  and 
those  other  incidents,  with  what  else  the  Parliament  shall 
think  fit."  Take  them  (that  is  to  say)  ;  but  take  them 
at  their  estimated  value. 

If  this  offer  was  made  at  Salisbury's  instigation,  or 
with  his  approval,  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  it  was  made 
with  any  other  intention  than  to  provoke  a  refusal  and 
bring  the  negotiation  to  an  end.  During  the  last  seven 
years  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  the  amount  of  supply  granted 
by  Parliament  had  risen  to  nearly  X  140,000  in  the  year. 
But  that  was  in  the  time  of  war  with  Spain  and  rebellion 
in  Ireland.  It  was  granted  by  two  several  Parliaments, 
with  special  reference  to  the  occasion,  and  for  three  or 
four  years  only,  each  time.  And  far  from  being  the  pro- 
vision then  required  by  the  Crown  from  this  source  in 
ordinary  times,  it  was  nearly  four  times  as  much  as  the 
average  of  the  first  twenty-seven  years  of  that  reign,  and 
nearly  twice  as  much  as  the  average  of  the  next  ten. 
The  proposal  now  made  was  to  secure  to  the  Crown,  in 
a  time  of  peace  both  with  subjects  and  neighbors,  —  to 
secure  to  it,  not  for  three  or  four  years,  but  forever,  — 
without  reference  to  circumstances,  and  without  interven- 
tion of  Parliament — an  annual  supply  greater  by  at  least 
a  fourth  tlian  the  greatest  that  any  Parliament  had  ever 
granted  or  been  asked  to  grant.  Was  it  conceivable  that 
the  House  would  listen  to  such  a  proposal  for  a  moment 
after  they  had  been  fairly  told  what  it  was  ?  To  ask  the 
House  of  Commons  first  to  free  the  Crown  from  debt  and 
then  to  settle  upon  it  such  an  income  —  what  was  \t  but 
to  ask  them  to  make  the  King  independent  of  Parlia- 
ment, to  deprive  themselves  of  all  legal  power  in  the 
state,  to  turn  petitions  of  right  and  complaints  of  griev 

VOL.  I.  38 


594        MOTIVES  FOR  THE  CHANGE  OF  PROCEEDING.     [Book  IV. 

ance  into  empty  forms,  diingerous  to  the  movei's,  but 
powerless  for  their  objects  ?  And  this  at  a  time  when 
they  were  more  than  usually  alive  to  the  value  of  the 
privilege  they  had  established  of  dealing  with  money 
bills  by  themselves,  and  keeping  questions  of  supply  en- 
tirely in  their  own  hands.  Give  the  King  inoney  enough, 
and  what  need  would  he  have  to  call  any  more  Parlia- 
ments? or  what  should  hinder  him  from  calling  them 
only  to  do  his  work  and  dissolving  them  the  moment 
they  began  to  do  any  work  for  themselves  ?  And  what 
would  concessions,  promises,  or  even  laws,  be  good  for, 
from  that  moment?  The  fear  of  Parliaments  being 
taken  away,  even  the  best  devised  laws  for  securing  the 
liberties  of  the  people  could  no  longer  have  been  trusted 
to  do  their  work.  The  lawyers  would  have  made  ""he 
laws  mean  what  they  liked. 

Yet  if  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  Salisbury  made  such 
an  offer  with  any  hope  that  it  would  be  accepted,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  it  is  also  hard  to  understand  what  ob- 
ject he  could  have  had  in  provoking  a  refusal.  Though 
the  Commons  had  been  too  wary  to  give  away  their  ad- 
vantage before  they  had  made  their  bargain,  they  had 
sliown  no  disinclination  to  the  bargain  itself,  nor  any 
disposition  to  deal  illiberally  in  it.  The  proposal  had 
un(loul)tedly  been  advised  and  deliberate:  why  should 
the  ])ropos('r  wish  it  to  miscarry  ?  A  docket  which  I 
find  in  the  calendar  of  State  Papers,  dated  April  25, 
lOlO  (tln^  day  before  Salisbury  delivered  the  King's  an- 
swer), may  pcrhajjs  have  sonit'thing  to  do  with  it.  On 
the  25tii  of  April  a  bond  for  X  150,000. was  given  by  the 
King  to  th(!  \jnn\  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Recorder  of 
London,  "  </i  part  srrurit//  for  £100,000  to  be  lent  by 
tJu'in.'"  Now  Wf  learn  from  a  news-letter  of  Chamber- 
iain's  (2  May)  that  just  al)out  this  tinn'  there  were 
*'  privy  seaJH  really  printiid  to  be  sent  abroad.  "  And  the 
trui-  history  of  tin-   matter  raay  possibly  be,  that  seeing 


1610.]       moti\t:s  for  the  change  of  proceedixg.        595 

the  House  of  Commons  could  not  be  persuaded  to  vote 
the  supply  before  they  proceeded  with  the  bargain,  and 
the  City  was  not  ready  to  lend  without  better  security 
than  the  Crown  had  to  offer,  and  yet  money  must  be 
got,  the  Government  had  expected  to  be  driven  to  the 
expedient  of  Priv}^  Seals,  that  is,  of  requisitions  for  loans 
of  money  in  small  sums  from  those  who  were  supposed 
to  have  money  to  spare.  It  would  have  been  inconven- 
ient at  such  a  time  for  the  Crown  to  be  known  to  be  at 
variance  with  the  Commons  on  a  money  question  :  and 
therefore  the  answer  to  their  offer  (which  might  have 
been  given  the  next  day)  was  postponed  for  nearh^  a 
nionth ;  and  when  given  was  so  contrived  as  not  to  touch 
the  point,  but  to  include  a  new  question,  which  required 
an  answer,  and  caused  the  dehw  of  a  few  days  more. 
But  by  the  time  the  answer  came  the  King  had  suc- 
ceeded in  borrowing  from  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen 
X100,000  in  a  himp ;  and,  being  rich  again  while  it 
lasted,  he  could  afford  (or  Salisbury  could  afford  on  his 
behalf,  —  for  we  cannot  tell  which  was  moving  the  other) 
to  assume  that  air  of  independence  and  superiority,  which 
would  have  been  politic,  if  the  hollowness  of  it  had  not 
been  so  fatally  betrayed  and  so  ostentatiously  proclaimed. 
He  thought  perhaps  tliat  if  he  set  his  demand  high 
enough,  and  spoke  big  enough,  lie  might  still  recover  the 
position  from  which  he  had  descended,  and  make  the 
Commons  believe  that  they  were  bargaining  with  one 
who  could  afford  to  wait. 

If  so,  he  was  mistaken.  It  was  too  late  to  produce 
such  an  impression  by  several  weeks.  When  Salisbury's 
speech  was  reported  to  the  Plouse  on  the  1st  of  May, 
Nicholas  Fuller  (whose  popular  sympathies  had  not  been 
chilled  by  his  submission  to  the  archbishop  sixteen  months 
before)^  began  the  debate  with  a  motion  which  must 
have  been  for  a  flat  and  peremptory  rejection  of  the 
King's  denuind.      And  acc'irding  to  a  letter  writer  who 

1  Clianibeilain,  8  Jan.,  1607-8. 


596  MESSAGE  FROM  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.        [Book  IV. 

appears  to  have  been  well  informed,  the  first  impnlse  of 
the  House  was  to  "give  no  answer  at  all,  but  remain 
silent  till  the  King  should  be  pleased  to  make  some  more 
reasonable  proposition  unto  them,  or  break  absolutely 
the  bargain ;  wherefrom  they  do  not  seem  now  much 
averse  :  thinking  to  have  done  enough,"  etc.  This  course 
was  opposed,  however,  by  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  among 
others ;  and  after  two  days  debate  they  agreed  upon  a 
message.  But  though  in  form  and  tone  it  was  more  ac- 
cording to  Bacon's  advice  that  it  should  be  "decent, 
modest,  and  respective,  "  the  substance  of  it  was  a  plain 
refusal  to  offer  better  terms.  Nor  did  they  think  fit  to 
trust  the  language  to  tlie  discretion  of  the  messenger, 
but  reduced  it  to  writing:  and  much  to  the  dissatisfac- 
tion of  the  Lords  (who  had  particularly  desired  "  that 
the  Committees  might  have  liberty  to  hear  propositions 
and  questions,  and  to  make  answers,  as  also  to  ask  ques- 
tions,") they  expressly  restrained  them  to  the  delivery  of 
the  message,  forbidding  them  to  "  answer  or  dispute." 

According  to  the  report  made  by  Salisbury  to  the 
Lords,  it  was  to  this  effect :  — 

"That  where  the  Kiiiglits,  Citizens,  mid  lUirgesses  of  the 
nether  House  had  offered  to  give  for  the  inattei-  of  AVurds, 
Tenures,  and  dependents  thereon,  £100,000.  and  had  \>y  us  re- 
ceived answer,  that  his  Majesty  as  then  advised  would  not 
accept  tliereof,  nor  saw  reason  to  depart  from  Ids  liist  demand 
of  £2<l(),()00  support  and  .£000,000  supjily,  his  oc-casions  being 
in  all  appearance  now  greater  tlian  Iti'loie,  and  esjx-cialiy  the 
Wards  being  now  l)y  them  desired,  which  Ixlore  was  not  spoken 
of  nor  included  in  tlio  King's  demand:  Tliat  diey  liave  since 
entered  into  n-examination  of  the  matter,  and  do  find  no  reason 
to  alter  their  oHer :  That  their  purpose  was  to  have,  laid  the 
burden  on  the  Landsm(!n  :  wliere  it  was  moved  unto  tliem  tliat 
th(!y  should  tlnnk  of  some  course  to  make  up  tlu;  King's  de- 
mand, etc.:  they  answiu-ed  that  they  cannot  now  find  how  so 
huge  n  sum  may  bo  levied  witliout  grieving  a  multitude  of  his 
Majesty's   poor  subjects:     Ilowbeit,   in   all   reasonable   matters 


1610.]  DISAPPOINTMENT  OF  SALISBURY.  597 

they  will  be  ready  to  give  his  Majesty  satisfaction.  Lastly, 
they  acknowledged  their  great  obligation  to  his  Majesty,  who 
hath  given  them  a  further  leave  to  treat  than  ever  was  granted 
to  any  of  their  predecessors ;  and  further  they  would  not  go." 

If  the  object  of  the  government  was  to  break  the  nego- 
tiation off,  the  matter  now  stood  very  well  for  them.  But 
Salisbur3''s  great  annoyance  and  disappointment  at  the 
refusal  of  the  Commons  to  allow  their  Committees  to 
enter  into  discussion  (of  which  I  find  lively  traces  in  both 
Journals)  seems  to  show  that  this  was  not  his  object. 
Indeed  he  not  only  remonstrated  and  argued,  but  hung 
out  signs  of  accommodation.  "  Perceiving,"  says  Beau- 
lieu  in  a  letter  to  Trumbull,  "  that  they  were  altogether 
cooled  in  the  bai'gain,  and  willing  to  go  back  from  their 
offer,  he  told  them  that  those  sums  which  had  been  pro- 
pounded unto  them  had  been  tendered  rather  by  way  of 
estimation  than  of  demand ;  and  desired  them  to  be  well 
advised  how  they  let  go  such  an  opportunity  as  they  had 
now  in  their  hands,  to  free  themselves  of  that  yoke  of 
the  Wardships  and  of  the  rest  of  their  grievances,  which 
they  should  not  always  recover ;  showing  unto  them  the 
importance  and  inconveniences  growing  unto  them  out 
of  every  one  of  those  grievances.  But  they  are  not  like 
(he  adds)  to  trouble  themselves  much  further  in  the  mat- 
ter, until  the  King  shall  have  modified  and  reformed  his 
propositions."  It  appears  also  from  the  Commons'  Jour- 
nals that  the  annoyance  was  not  confined  to  Salisbury; 
three  other  Lords  had  expressed  dissatisfaction  "  and 
taxed  the  proceedings  of  the  House." 

The  truth  was  tliat  Salisbury  had  overshot  himself 
both  ways  ;  first  in  making  the  essential  weakness  of  his 
position  too  apparent,  and  now  in  setting  his  demands  too 
high.  Nor  was  that  the  worst.  If  the  redress  of  (jriev- 
ancp.s  was  all  the  recompense  they  were  to  look  for  — 
and  they  were  now  told  that  whatever  else  was  given 
must  be  paid  for  at  its  full  value  —  the  least  that  could 


598  SKAKCII  FOR  RECORDS  AS  TO  IMPOSITIONS.      [\io<H<  IV. 

be  expected  was  that  they  would  make  as  much  of  their 
grievances  as  they  could.  Their  Committee  had  been 
busy  in  the  inquiry  for  two  months,  and  reports  were 
beginning  to  come  in  fast.  On  the  24th  of  April  "  the 
great  matter  of  Impositions  "  had  come  before  them.  On 
the  30th  (in  spite  of  a  warning  in  tlie  interval  from 
Salisbur}'  that  to  "  flatter  themselves  in  their  private  opin- 
ions, when  cases  had  been  judged  in  a  court  proper  to  de- 
termine them  ....  were  but  to  bark  against  the  moon," 
the  Speaker  had  been  directed  to  "  take  order  for  the 
view  of  the  Parliament  Records  in  the  Tower,"  the 
King's  Counsel  "  to  give  direction  for  precedents  which 
they  vouched,"  and  "  Sir  Robert  Cotton  to  assist."  On 
the  first  of  May  they  had  appointed  nine  of  their  body  to 
"  search  records  touching  Impositions,  and  fixed  a  day  for 
discussing  the  question  in  the  House.  The  discussion  was 
likely  to  be  particularly  inconvenient  at  that  time  ;  and 
as  the  day  drew  near  another  attempt  was  made  to  inter- 
cept it.  Unfortunately  the  means  used  constituted  a 
fresh  grievance,  which,  in  the  temper  to  which  they  had 
now  been  brought,  seemed  likely  to  breed  fresh  troubles. 
On  the  11th  of  May,  when  "  the  Grievances  were  called 
for,"  the  Speaker  delivered  a  message,  as  from  the  King, 
warning  them  that  the  question  as  to  his  right  to  impose 
duties  upon  mcreliandi.se  exported  and  imported  had  been 
settled  judicially,  and  was  not  to  Ix^  disputed  in  the 
House.  Now  as  the  King  had  been  absent  from  London 
all  th<^  week,  a  question  arose,  whence  the  Speaker  re- 
ci'iv('(l  this  message  :  "wherein  he,  excusing  himself  for 
a  long  time,  in  tlie  end  did  confess  that  he  received  this 
niessagi!  from  the  body  of  the  Privy  Council."  That 
their  Speaker  slioidd  reciuve  communications  in  this  way 
tlintiigh  the  Pi-ivy  (loinicil  was  held  to  b(^  against  order, 
and  it  was  re.solv<M|  nUcv  warm  di^bate  "That  the  same 
nuissage, coming  not  immediately  from  his  Majesty,  should 
not  be  received  as  a  message:  and  that,  in  all   messages 


1610.]        QUESTION  OF  DISCUSSING  THE  KING'S  POWERS.        599 

from  liis  Majesty,  the  Speaker  before  he  delivered  them 
should  first  ask  leave  of  the  House,  according  as  had  an- 
ciently been  accustomed." 

Whether  the  King  had  anything  to  do  with  this  par- 
ticular message  is  doubtful ;  but  the  general  terms  of  the 
resolution  imported  a  limitation  of  his  liberty  of  action 
in  which  he  could  hardly  have  been  expected  to  ac- 
quiesce. As  soon  as  it  was  reported  to  him,  he  sent 
again  to  inquire  whether,  if  a  message  were  sent  to  them 
by  their  Speaker,  and  the  Speaker  declared  that  it  came 
by  warrant  from  the  King  in  word  or  writing,  or  from 
the  body  of  his  Privy  Council,  they  would  refuse  it? 
The  question  was  immediately  referred  to  the  Committee 
of  Grievances  (14  May)  and  the  result  was  a  report  that 
with  respect  to  messages  sent  by  the  Speaker  immedi- 
ately from  the  King  himself,  whether  in  word  or  in  writ- 
ing, they  were  ready  to  say  that  they  would  receive  them 
as  usual,  "  being  delivered  unto  them  according  to  the  an- 
cient order  of  the  House."  But  "  concerning  the  latter 
part  of  the  question,  which  touched  the  Council,  the  gen- 
eral resolution  of  the  Committee  was  to  make  answer 
that  they  would  receive  no  messages  coming  from  the 
Council  as  messages  sent  from  his  Majesty." 

If  this  was  all  that  could  be  got,  it  was  better  to  let 
the  matter  rest  where  it  was  :  and  the  King  sent  word  in 
the  morning  that  they  need  not  trouble  themselves  to 
answer  his  question.  But  what  was  to  be  done  with  the 
resolution  of  the  House  which  had  led  him  to  ask  it  ? 
Upon  that  resolution  the  Committee  of  Privileges  had 
framed  an  order,  which  had  been  allowed,  and  should 
have  been  entered  in  the  records.  As  long  as  this  re- 
mained among  the  precedents  it  was  useless  to  withdraw 
the  question,  for  it  contained  the  answer.  By  this  time, 
however,  a  disposition  had  come  over  them  to«  relent  and 
make  the  matter  up ;  and  when  in  the  course  of  further 
discussion  it  was  found  that  the  clerk  had  not  yet  entered 


600    QUESTION  OF  DISCUSSING  THE  KING'S  POWERS.    [Book  IV. 

the  order,  they  had  tlie  sense  to  leave  it  there  ;  follow- 
ing Bacon's  advice  in  not  standing  upon  the  point  — 
("  Sovereignty  and  Liberty  to  pass  in  silence  :  not  to  be 
textual:"  is  the  note  that  remains  of  what  he  said)  — 
as  they  might  now  see  it  would  have  been  better  to  do 
five  days  before,  when  he  advised  them  not  to  contest  it. 
"Bat  in  the  end,"  says  Chamberlain,  "they  saw  that 
motos  prcestat  componere  Jluetus,  and  with  a  moderate  an- 
swer pacified  his  Majesty." 

A  difficulty  which  ought  never  to  have  been  made  was 
thus  easily  disposed  of  :  a  few  fair  words  and  the  with- 
drawal of  a  needless  scruple  set  it  at  rest,  and  no  further 
trouble  was  to  be  apprehended  from  it.  But  unfortu- 
nately it  left  the  real  difficulty  behind.  Tlie  scruple 
about  the  form  of  the  message  had  merely  postponed 
the  question,  what  should  be  done  with  the  message  it- 
self ;  "  which  was,"  says  the  reporter,  "  to  command  the 
House  not  to  dispute  of  the  King's  power  and  prerogative 
in  imposing  upon  merchandises  exported  or  imported.  " 
This  was  a  point  in  which  it  was  not  so  easy  to  give  way 
on  either  side.  It  was  the  old  dispute  between  Preroga- 
tive and  Privilege,  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  the  ques- 
tion at  issue  was  one  of  incalculable  importance.  It  is 
scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  it  involved  the  whole  ques- 
tion whetlier  the  Commons  were  to  be  thenceforth  at  the 
mercy  of  th(i  Crown,  or  the  Crown  at  the  mercy  of  the 
Commons.  It"  the  King  had  tlie  power  of  laying  duties 
at  will  upon  exports  and  imports,  h(i  eouhl  carry  on  tl)e 
governmt-nt  without  the  aid  of  [Parliament  ;  if  not,  the 
liclp  or  eons(int  of  th(^  House  of  Commons  ix'ing  indis- 
])(!iisal)li',  they  could  always  control  the  government  by 
stopping  the,  sup[)iicH.  'I'Ik;  King  (who,  to  do  him  jus- 
tice, wjis  always  ready  to  give  reasons  for  what,  he  did, 
and  to  l)eli«?vc  that  if  he  might  but  state  tluim  in  his  own 
way  h(!  could  convince  (!vcrvl)ody  that  lie  was  right) 
thought  to  rriiiovo  the   difficulty  by  a  speech.      And   on 


1610.]     QUESTION  OF  DISCUSSING  THE  KING'S  POWERS.         601 

tbis  occasion  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  had  that  to  say 
which  was  much  to  the  purpose,  and  might  if  properly 
managed  have  done  a  great  deal  to  clear  the  way.  He 
was  prepared  to  make  some  substantial  concessious.  He 
was  prepared  not  only  to  concede  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons without  reserve  the  right  of  discussing  particular 
impositions  in  respect  of  conveniency,  or  inconveniency, 
and  of  complaining  of  them  as  grievances  (which  for 
practical  purposes  was  almost  the  same  as  discussing  the 
right  itself  of  imposing)  ;  but  also  to  put  a  limit  upon 
the  exercise  of  the  power  which  he  assumed,  by  engaging 
himself  not  to  use  it  without  consulting  Parliament,  If  he 
could  but  have  confined  himself  in  speech  to  an  intima- 
tion of  what  he  ivould  concede,  and  let  silence  say  for 
him  what  he  would  not  concede,  such  a  declaration  from 
his  own  mouth  might  have  done  much  to  conciliate  opposi- 
tion. But  silence  was  a  gift  which  had  not  been  given  to 
him.  He  could  not  say  what  he  would  do,  without  also  say- 
ing what  he  would  not  do :  could  not  promise  to  forego  the 
exercise  of  a  right,  without  first  proving  that  he  had  it: 
could  not  admit  that  a  liberty  went  so  far,  without  deny- 
ing that  it  went  further.  The  consequence  was,  that 
meaning  to  tell  the  Commons  that  tiieir  right  to  "  com- 
plain of  any  just  grievance,"  and  therefore  to  inquire  of 
"  the  burden  and  inconvenience  "  of  impositions,  was  not 
questioned,  he  began  by  warning  them  not  to  dispute  the 
King's  power  to  impose  ;  and  meaning  to  put  an  impor- 
tant restriction  upon  himself  in  the  exercise  of  that 
power,  he  began  with  an  argument  in  justification  of  it, 
which  (followed  to  its  logical  consequences)  implied  a 
pretension  to  tax  not  imports  and  exports  only,  but  all 
other  property.  And  the  general  impression  which  his 
speech  produced  may  be  gathered  from  the  report  sent 
by  Chamberlain  to  Winwood  two  or  three  days  after. 

"The  21st  of  this  present  he  made  another  speech  to  both  the 
houses,  but  so  little  to  their  satisfaction  that  I  hear  it  bred  gon- 


602    QUESTION  OF  DISCUSSING  THE  KING  S  POWERS.  [Bo..k  IV. 

erally  much  discomfort  to  see  our  monarchical  power  and  royal 
prerogative  strained  so  high,  and  made  so  transcendent  every 
way,  that  if  the  practice  should  follow  the  positions,  we  are  not 
like  to  leave  our  successors  that  freedom  which  we  received 
from  our  forefathers,  nor  make  account  of  anything  we  have 
longer  than  they  list  that  govern.  Many  bold  passages  have 
been  since  in  the  Lower  House,  and  amongst  the  rest  a  wish 
that  this  speech  might  never  come  in  print.  " 

Instead  of  appeasing  one  dispute,  the  King  had  in  fact 
(without  at  all  meaning  it)  raised  another  of  larger  dimen- 
sions —  a  dispute  involving  the  entire  relation  between 
Sovereignty  and  Liberty;  which  it  was  so  important  (as 
Bacon  could  have  told  him)  to  maintain  in  silence,  with- 
out coming  to  exact  definitions.  The  effect  was  imme- 
diate ;  though  to  him,  I  believe,  quite  unexpected.  The 
first  business  of  the  House  the  next  morning  was  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  Committee  "  to  devise  upon  some  course 
to  be  taken  to  inform  his  Majesty  how  much  the  liberties 
of  the  subject  and  the  privilege  of  the  Parliament  was 
impeached  by  this  inhibition  to  debate  his  Prerogative." 

In  the  notes  of  the  debate  which  ended  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  this  C(unmittoe  Bacon's  name  does  not  appear. 
But  in  Committee  he  tried  hard,  as  he  Iiad  invariably 
done  on  like  occasions,  to  turn  the  discussion  from  the 
general  question  of  the  right  to  the  particular  question 
of  the  grievance.  It  had  begun  with  strong  assertions 
of  the  right  of  Parliament  to  debate  freely  of  all  things 
that  concern  the  Commonwealth,  including  tlie  Preroga- 
tive of  the  Crown,  which  was  alleged  to  have  been  sub- 
je(;t  in  all  ages  to  inquiry  both  in  Parliament  and  in  the 
Courts  of  Justic(!.  His  course  in  such  cases  had  always 
been,  not  to  deny  the  riglit,  but  if  possible  to  prevent 
the  question.  And  such  was  his  cour.se  now.  He 
cited  precedents  in  suj)port  of  the  King's  position,  and 
advised  the  Hou.se  ^'  to  j)re.sent  these  matters  of  imposi- 
tifuis   as  grievances   to    tlu;   Commonwealtli    (wliich    the 


1610.]  A  PETITION  OF  RIGHT.  603 

King  had  given  them  leave  to  do),  but  not  to  question 
his  power  or  prerogative  to  impose." 

It  does  not  appear  that  these  precedents  'ere  met  by 
any  precedent  on  the  other  side,  later  than  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.,  where  a  debate  in  Parliament  concerning 
the  limits  of  the  prerogative  had  heen  jyermitted.  But  it 
was  easy  to  find  distinctions  between  each  of  the  cases 
alleged  and  the  case  of  the  new  Impositions,  and  to  show 
tliat  they  were  not  exactly  in  point;  and  the  result  was 
a  resolution  to  remonstrate.  A  petition  of  Right  was  ac- 
cordingly drawn  up,  setting  forth  in  temperate  but  firm 
language  the  right  of  Parliament  to  debate  freely  of  all 
matters  which  concern  the  right  and  state  of  the  subject, 
and  the  impossibility  of  examining  the  case  of  the  new 
Impositions  as  it  affected  the  subject  without  inquiring 
how  it  stood  in  law  :  and  ending  with  a  petition  that  they 
might  "  according  to  the  undoubted  right  and  liberty  of 
Parliament  proceed  in  their  intended  course  of  a  full  ex- 
amination of  these  new  Impositions;  that  so  they  might 
cheerfully  pass  on  to  his  Majesty's  business,  from  which 
this  stop  had  by  diversion  so  long  withheld  them." 

This  paper  was  very  skillfully  worded  to  avoid  offense, 
and  as  I  think  the  King  had  never  meant  to  put  any  re- 
straint upon  the  liberty  of  their  proceeding,  but  fancied 
on  the  contrary  that  he  was  offering  them  a  very  large 
and  unusual  indulgence,  he  was  the  more  disposed  to  re- 
ceive it  graciously.  It  was  presented  to  him  at  Green- 
wich on  the  24th  of  May  at  eleven  in  the  morning.  The 
messengers  were  received  with  unusual  courtesy,  and 
having  been  "  extraordinarily  entertained  at  dinner,  were 
summoned  into  the  withdrawing  chamber  at  three  to  hear 
his  answer :  the  substance  of  which  was  shortly  that  they 
had  mistaken  his  meaning,  both  in  his  mes.sage  and  in 
his  speech.  In  his  message  he  had  not  meant  to  prohibit 
absolutely  a  discussion  of  the  question,  but  only  to  sus- 
pend it,  in  order  that  he  might  understand   their  inten- 


30-1  THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  HENRY  IV.  [Book  IV. 

tioiis:  and  in  his  speech  when  he  explained  what  powers 
a  Kincf  of  Ens^land  had  bv  law,  he  never  meant  that  he 
was  going  to  use  them  for  the  abridgment  of  any  of  their 
liberties.  He  begged  thera  to  distinguish  between  his 
reasons  and  his  conclusions,"  "  granted  their  petition  as 
themselves  had  set  it  down,"  and  desired  that  "  mistak- 
ing might  no  more  hinder  their  business." 

With  which  answer  the  House  being  well  satisfied, 
proceeded  to  their  business  without  further  delay. 

The  message  and  speech  which  had  given  rise  to  all 
these  doubts  and  explanations  were  the  more  unlucky, 
because  an  accident  had  just  happened  which  tended  to 
bring  the  King  and  the  Commons  into  harmonious  action. 
The  assassination  of  Henry  IV.,  which  was  announced  to 
the  Lower  House  by  Salisbury  on  the  8th  of  May,  had 
rekindled  their  zeal  against  Papists,  alarmed  them  for 
the  safety  of  the  King's  person,  and  made  them  look  up 
the  laws  against  Recusants.  Nothing  reconciles  dissen- 
sions  between  allies  like  the  report  of  an  enemy  advan- 
cing ;  and  if  it  had  not  been  crossed  by  that  unfortunate 
messagt^,  the  news  of  the  murder  would  very  likely  have 
been  followed  by  a  vote  of  supply, —  immediate,  liberal, 
and  unconditional.  Salisbury  tried  to  get  that  fruit  out 
of  it  on  the  first  announcement.  "  After  he  had  repre- 
sented unto  them  "  (writes  Beaulieu  on  the  9th)  "  the 
importance  of  that  accident,  and  the  loss  which  this  state 
did  suffer  by  it,  ...  .  his  Lordship  exhorted  them  to  be 
watchful  for  the  safety  and  good  of  tlieir  prince,  and  as- 
sist liim  with  those  means  which  were  requisite  for  it ; 
Beeniing  to  insinuate  unto  them  that  this  accident  would 
put  the  King  in  need  of  a  greater  assistance  from  them 
than  was  before  required  at  their  hands."  And  wlien 
thirt  hint  failed  to  produce  its  effect,  he  made  another 
atteinj)t  to  bring  it  about  by  a  more  elaborate  proceed- 
ing. I'ut  it  was  his  ill  luck  throughout  this  sessifm  that 
every  attempt  he   made  to  dehv<^r  the  King  from   his  em- 


1610.]     NEGOTIATION  OF  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT  RESUMED.    605 

barvassments  acted  as  a  reminder  to  the  Commons  that 
as  soon  as  he  was  delivered  they  would  lose  all  their  hold 
upon  him.  Their  disposition  was  indeed  for  the  time 
more  favorable.  The  temper  of  the  King's  answer  to 
their  remonstrance,  and  the  anxiety  to  take  securities 
against  the  Jesuits  which  he  shared  with  both  the  Houses, 
had  sweetened  their  feelings  ;  and  the  question  of  Supply 
and  Support,  which  had  been  shut  up  by  their  message 
of  the  3d  of  ]\lay  and  remained  in  abeyance  ever  since, 
the  Lords  making  no  further  motion  in  it,  was  on  the 
25th  —  immediatel}'  after  the  report  of  the  King's  answer 
—  brought  forward  again.  But  in  proposing  tore-open 
't,  they  did  not  forget  to  stipulate  that  the  question  of 
Impositions,  the  investigation  of  which  had  been  going 
on  in  the  mean  time  with  activity,  should  not  be  left  be- 
hind, but  proceed  pari  pa^su.  Salisbur}^  felt,  I  suppose, 
that,  if  that  was  to  be  the  consequence,  further  delay 
would  only  lead  to  further  difficulty  ;  and  immediately 
made  a  fresh  attempt  to  get  the  negotiation  resumed  and 
pushed  forward.  The  very  next  day  after  the  passing  of 
that  resolution  in  the  Lower  House,  messengers  arrived 
from  the  Upper  to  desire  a  confei-ence  between  the  Com- 
mittees "  formerly  employed  in  the  matter  of  Tenures  ;" 
at  which  it  was  intimated  that  the  King  was  prepared  to 
lower  his  terms,  and  they  were  invited  to  renew  the  nego- 
tiation, not  in  a  "  dry  meeting,"  such  as  the  last  was, 
but  "  in  a  free  conference,"  where  the  committees  on 
both  sides  should  come  prepared  to  debate  and  argue. 
Which,  it  seems,  was  agreed  to,  and  the  Commons  be- 
gan forthwith  to  prepare  themselves. 

That  the  subject  of  discussion  was  to  be  the  contract 
which  had  been  under  discussion  before,  and  that  more 
favorable  terms  were  now  to  be  offered,  appeal's  dis- 
tinctly from  the  note  in  the  Lords'  Journals  of  what  the 
Lord  Treasurer  was  to  say  to  the  Committees.  That 
in  insisting  so  earnestly  that  the  Conference  should  be 


606  NEGOTIATION  OF  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.        [Book  IV. 

"  free  "  and  the  Committees  authorized  to  debate  ques- 
tions, their  motive  was  to  save  time  and  get  the  terms 
settled  before  the  case  of  the  Impositions  could  come 
on  I  infer  from  the  dates.  And  the  business  might  no 
doubt  have  been  despatched  quicker  in  that  way.  But 
tlie  Commons  knew  well  enough  which  party  could  least 
afford  to  wait,  and  they  were  not  to  be  hurried.  If  their 
Committees  were  to  debate  the  terms  of  the  contract, 
they  must  have  their  instructions  beforehand;  and  in- 
structions required  time.  That  the  same  time  served  to 
collect  the  records  concerning  Impositions,  was  an  acci- 
dent no  way  inconvenient  to  them.  But  to  Salisbury,  if 
I  am  right  in  supposing  that  his  object  was  to  get  the 
contract  concluded  before  the  other  difficulty  came  on, 
it  threatened  to  spoil  his  whole  game.  Unless  he  could 
hurry  the  preparations  for  the  Conference,  Support  and 
Impositions  would  go  together  pari  passu  after  all.  Ac- 
cordingly, when  nearly  a  fortnight  had  passed  without 
bringing  any  news  of  their  progress,  another  message 
was  sent  to  remind  them  of  the  time  of  the  year,  and 
express  a  hope  that  "  all  protraction,  in  this  so  great  and 
nec'i'ssary  a  business,  might  be  avoided."  And  when 
rej)ly  came  "  that  they  were  preparing  for  the  matters 
in  question  ;  that  therein  they  had  slacked  no  time  ;  and 
so  soon  as  they  were  prepared  the  Lords  sliould  hear 
further  from  them  ;"  Salisbury  seems  to  have  felt  that 
he  should  lose  at  that  game  ;  and  thereupon  suddenly 
clianged  his  tactics,  and  tried  to  get  at  his  main  end  — 
which  was  money  to  go  on  with  —  by  a  nearer  way.  The 
answer  to  the  last  message  urging  expedition  was  received 
on  Frichiy  tlie  8th  of  .June.  On  Monday  the  11th  another 
was  sent,  desiring  an  immediate  Conference  (with  the 
same  Committees  who  had  been  employed  before)  "touch- 
ing Hinnc.  things  whieli  wi!re  to  be  imparted  to  them  by 
bis  Majesty's  late  commandment." 

To  this  they  assenti'd   at  once,   without   :iny  remark; 


1610.]  PRELIMINARY  EXPLANATIONS.  607 

and  the  Conference  was  to  take  place  tlie  same  after- 
noon. But  the  short  interval  was  passed  in  anxious  con- 
sultation upon  a  point  of  form,  which,  as  illustrating  the 
temper  of  the  House  and  the  wary  distance  at  which 
the^'  held  their  honor,  would  be  worth  notice,  even  if 
Bacon  had  not  been  called  to  take  a  pai't  in  it.  The 
point  was  this.  They  were*  to  hear  something  which 
the  King  had  commanded  tlie  Lords  to  impart  to  them. 
Were  the  Lords  then  a  body  interposed  between  the 
King  and  his  subjects?  They  had  objected  to  receive 
messages  from  him  by  his  Council :  were  they  to  receive 
them  by  the  Upper  House  ?  The  matter  was  thought 
gi-ave  enough  for  a  Committee. 

''  AVhereupon  a  Committee  was  cliosen  to  consider  what  was 
fittest  to  be  done ;  who  shortly  after  resolved  that  one  of  our 
House  who  was  appointed,  namely,  Mr.  Solicitor,  should  before 
the  Lords  spake,  desire  to  say  something  unto  the  Lords  on  the 
behalf  of  the  House;  and  that  then  he  should  say  that  which 
the  House  directed  him ;  which  he  did  with  some  amplification." 

The  office  naturally  fell  to  Bacon  because  he  was  to  be 
reporter  of  the  proceedings  at  the  Conference.  But  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  he  was  the  very  best  man  to  whom 
they  could  have  entrusted  it ;  and  the  little  ''  amplifica- 
tion "  which  he  ventured  on  may  have  had  something  to 
do  with  the  smooth  passage  of  it.  The  following  is  given 
as  the  substance  of  wdiat  he  said  :  — 

"  They  had  received  a  message  from  their  Lordships, 
desiring  a  meeting,  whereunto  they  had  yielded.  But 
that  whether  it  were  in  the  expressing  of  it  or  in  the  con- 
ceiving of  it,  or  both,  there  were  some  mistakes  which 
had  left  an  impression  in  the  minds  of  the  hearers,  which 
did  beget  this  resolution,  which  by  their  commandment 
lie  was  to  intimate  to  their  Lordships,  which  was  this  : 
that  if  their  Lordships  did  desire  this  meeting  upon  in- 
tent only  to  communicate  unto  them  their  own  conceits 
\»r  anything  which  they  had  received  from  his  Majesty, 


608  PRELIMINARY  EXPLANATIONS.  [Book  IV. 

they  were  come  hither  with  all  willing  readiness  to  re- 
ceive it.  But  that  if  their  Lordships  were  employed 
herein  as  messengers  onl}'^  to  the  House  of  Commons 
from  his  Majesty,  who  is  like  the  sun  which  shines  di- 
rectly as  well  upon  the  lowest  valleys  as  upon  the  highest 
liills,  then  they  were  to  signify  to  their  Lordships  that 
this  course  was  contrary  to*  the  ancient  orders,  liberties, 
privileges,  and  graces  of  this  House.  And  therefore  we 
are  to  entertain  it  as  it  shall  please  the  House  to  direct 
us." 

Salisbury  was  not  a  man  to  sacrifice  the  matter  to  a 
scruple  about  the  words.  He  easily  explained  that  they 
had  desired  a  meeting,  in  consequence  of  something  which 
they  had  heard  from  the  King,  in  order  that  they  might 
take  counsel  together  what  should  be  done.  And  so  the 
Conference  proceeded. 

And  now  it  appeared  that,  though  it  had  been  ex- 
pressly desired  by  the  Lords  that  the  Committees  might 
be  the  same  who  had  been  employed  befoi-e,  the  object  of 
the  conference  was  quite  different.  The  business  con- 
sisted solely  of  a  speech  from  Salisbury  ;  the  object  of 
which  was,  not  to  explain  how  much  the  King  would 
abate  of  his  former  demand  and  to  propose  terms  for  dis- 
cu.ssion,  but  simply  to  urge  a  present  vote  of  "supply 
by  subsidies,"  and  for  that  purpose  the  suspension  of  all 
other  business,  —  including  "  Support  "  as  well  as  "  Griev- 
ances,"—  till  their  next  meeting  in  October,  when  the 
negotiation  of  the  contract  would  be  resumed.  There 
was  no  discussion,  nor  any  invitation  to  discuss  :  it  was  a 
perfc'ctly  "  dry  "  meeting. 

The  motion  was  one  which  indicated  rather  the  extrem- 
ity of  the  case  than  the  skill  of  th(^  mover.  For  except 
Bome  -additifjual  uncertainty  as  to  the  course  of  affairs 
aV)road,  and  some  vague  app^^h(Mlsion  of  the  coniiug  as- 
f-eiidancy  of  I*oj)ery  in  ('hristendom,  conscfiuent  upon 
ih'"   rfniiiv:d    of    IF'iiiv  IV.,    he   does   not    ;i|»|»<;ii-  lo   hiive 


ICIO.]  SUBSIDIES  PROPOSED   BUT  POSTPONED.  609 

had  anything  new  to  communicate  which  should  have 
induced  the  Commons  to  descend  from  their  vantage- 
ground.  He  had  indeed  some  fresh  acts  of  popukirity  on 
the  King's  part  to  announce ;  some  remissions  of  duty  to 
the  merchants,  a  promise  to  impose  no  more  duties  before 
their  next  meeting,  and  permission  to  the  Lower  House 
"  to  dispute  of  his  foiver  to  impose,  in  radice.^^  But  as 
things  had  been  managed,  these  concessions  had  been  so 
manifestly  the  consequence  of  his  necessity,  that  as  long 
as  other  and  more  important  concessions  remained  to  be 
got,  they  formed  the  worst  of  all  arguments  for  taking 
that  necessity  away.  Salisbury  explained  frankly  enough 
what  he  wanted.  "  For  the  point  of  Supply,  he  wished 
we  would  give  his  IMajesty  so  much  as  might  disengage 
himself  and  pay  his  debts ;  and  that  something  might 
remain  in  dejjosito  (in  what  place  or  whose  hands  we 
pleased)  tanquam  thesaurus  sacei\  as  a  dry  and  standing 
stock,  not  to  be  touched  but  upon  urgent  necessity."  But 
he  can  hardly  have  expected  the  House  of  Commons  to 
overlook  the  probable  consequence  of  making  such  a 
grant  in  June  —  namely,  that  their  grievances  when  pre- 
sented in  October  would  have  so  much  the  less  chance  of 
respectful  consideration. 

Such,  however,  was  the  proposition  to  be  submitted  to 
them.  Being  reported  by  Bacon,  I  presumed  that  it  was 
presented  in  the  fairest  light  which  it  would  bear ;  but 
the  result  was  what  might  have  been  anticipated.  A 
motion  for  a  grant  of  two  subsidies  was  debated  for  two 
days,  and  after  several  amendments  and  fresh  proposi- 
tions and  conciliatory  messages  from  the  King,  ended  at 
last  in  the  postponement  by  general  consent  of  the  whole 
question.  "  A  message  to  his  Majesty,  by  Mr.  Chancel- 
lor, and  that  we  will  lay  all  other  business  aside  and 
endeavor  within  a  short  time  to  give  his  Majesty  satis- 
•^action,"  was  proposed  at  last  by  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  and 
"assented  unto  by  the  voice  of  the  House."     To  which 

VOL.  I.  39 


610  SUBSIDIES  PROPOSED  BUT  POSTPONED.      [Book  IV. 

the  King  replied  that  he  did  not  "  misjudge  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  House  in  not  giving  him  a  subsidy,  and  was 
indifferent  whether  any  other  motion  were  made  con- 
cerning any  supply,  till  they  should  receive  a  full  answer 
to  their  grievances."  What  better  could  have  been  ex- 
pected ?  The  common  sense  of  the  House  told  them, 
and  each  successive  move  of  the  government  confirmed 
the  impression,  that  in  relieving  the  King  from  his  own 
wants  they  would  relieve  him  from  the  necessity  of  con- 
sidering theirs.  Bacon  seems  to  have  felt  that  he  had  no 
ground  to  work  upon.  In  the  two  days'  debate  which  fol- 
lowed his  report,  the  only  record  which  remains  of  what 
he  said  is  this  note  ;  from  which  I  can  only  gather  that 
he  spoke  in  favor  of  supply  :  — 

Sir  Fk.  Bacon.  —  I  will  not  blast  the  affections  of 
this  House  with  elaborate  speech.  —  Great  hope  in  the 
heart.     Upon  that  to  proceed. 

The  failure  of  this  last  attempt  to  obtain  a  present 
siij)ply  left  matters  where  they  were.  The  Commons  had 
been  going  on  with  their  preparations  for  the  "  free  Con- 
ference "  concerning  Tenures  to  wliich  tliey  had  been  in- 
vited by  the  Lords,  as  well  as  with  the  search  for  records 
touching  Impositions,  and  were  now  ready  to  deal  with 
botli  questions.  On  tlie  18th  of  June  they  opened  com- 
raunications  with  the  Lords,  whicli  resulted  in  a  confer- 
ence on  tlie  26th  ;  and  on  tln^  23d  they  began  to  debate, 
in  committee  of  the  whole  House,  the  great  question, 
"  wh(!ther  the  King  have  power  to  set  impositions  upon 
inercliandises  without  assent  of  Parliament."  The  debate 
appears  to  have  occupied  five  days  —  the  23d,  27th,  28th, 
and  2!>th  of  June,  and  the  2d  of  July;  on  one  of  which 
days  —  probably  the  27th  —  Bacon  made  a  great  speech 
in  defense  of  the  King's  right. 

"  All     this    debate,"    says    Carletou,    writing    to    Sir 


1010.]  NEW  OFFER  IN  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.  611 

Thomas  Edmunds,  "  was  at  Grand  Committees,  the 
Speaker  being  in  the  House  but  not  in  his  chair ;  and 
when  the  powder  was  all  spent  on  both  sides,  we  grew 
in  the  end  to  this  peaceable  conclusion,  —  not  to  put  the 
question  of  the  right,  to  condemn  thereby  the  judgment 
of  the  Exchequer  in  the  matter  of  currants  :  whereof  all 
this  is  the  consequence :  but  to  frame  a  petition  by  way 
of  grievance  implying  the  right,  though  not  in  express 
terms  ;  which  was  accordingly  done." 

The  conclusion  therefore,  whatever  may  be  thought  of 
the  arguments,  was  in  accordance  with  Bacon's  motion, 
who  had  from  the  beginning,  as  we  have  seen,  advised 
this  very  course  ;  and  was  presently  to  be  employed  in 
presenting  the  petition  itself. 

The  result  then  of  this  long  debate  was  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Committee  (3d  July)  "  to  consider  of  the  frame 
of  a  petition  to  be  offered  to  the  King  touching  Imposi- 
tions." But  in  the  mean  time  the  question  of  Support 
had  been  re-opened  and  made  a  step  in  advance.  In  a 
conference  between  the  two  Houses  on  the  26th  of  June, 
Salisbury  had  informed  the  Committee  of  the  Commons 
how  much  the  King  would  now  consent  to  abate  of  his 
former  demand  for  the  concessions  proposed  :  he  would 
take  for  them  X140,000  per  annum,  above  the  annual 
revenue  which  they  now  yielded ;  ^  which  appears  to 
have  been  estimated  at  X  80,000.  This  was  an  abatement 
of  X60,000  per  annum  in  his  demand  for  Support ;  and  as 
nothing  was  said  about  Supply^  his  other  demand  of 
.£600,000  as  a  preliminary  condition  of  the  bargain  may 
be  considered  as  having  been  withdrawn.  This  new  and 
much  improved  offer,  being  reported  to  the  House  the 
next  day,  had  been  immediately  referred  to  a  Committee. 
Ijiit  the  answer  had  to  wait  for  the  Grievances,  which 

I  •'  I  crave  .£140,000  per  annum,  in  retribution  of  such  things  as  I  mean  to 
iargain  for  at  this  Parliament,  clear  in  addition  to  that  I  formerly  received  by 
(he  natures  of  those  things  that  are  now  to  be  bargained  for.  "  —  ParUamtntury 
Debate/,  1610,  p.  121. 


612  THE  PETITION  OF  GRIEVANCES.  [Book  IV. 

were  to   proceed  joari  passu,  and  were  now  a  little  be- 
hind. 

The  delay,  however,  was  not  long.  The  Committee 
appointed  on  the  3d  of  July  (of  which  Bacon  was  a 
member)  brought  up  their  report  on  the  4th.  The  pe- 
tition concerning  Impositions  was  then  immediately  read 
in  the  House  and  passed  :  and  the  collection  of  Griev- 
ances being  now  complete,  the  preamble  was  agreed  to 
and  ordeVed  to  be  engrossed.  Bacon,  accompanied  by 
twenty  of  the  House,  was  appointed  to  present  them : 
which  he  did  on  the  7th,  with  the  following  speech,  as 
reported  by  himself, 

A  SPEECH  USED  TO  THE  KING  BY  HIS  MAJESTY'S  SO- 
LICITOR, BEING  CHOSEN  BY  THE  COMMONS  AS  THEIR 
MOUTH  AND  MESSENGER,  FOR  THE  PRESENTING  TO 
HIS  MAJESTY  OF  THE  INSTRUMENT  OR  WRITING  OF 
THEIR   GRIEVANCES.      IN   THE    PARLIAMENT  7  JAC. 

Most  gracious  Sovereign,  —  The  knights,  citizens, 
and  burgesses  assembled  in  Parliament,  in  the  house  of 
your  commons,  in  all  humbleness  do  exhibit  and  present 
unto  your  sacred  Majesty,  in  their  own  words  though  by 
my  hand,  their  Petitions  and  Grievances.  They  are 
here  conceived  and  set  down  in  writing,  according  to  an- 
cient custom  of  Parliament.  They  are  also  prefaced 
according  to  the  manner  and  taste  of  these  later  times. 
Therefore  for  me  to  make  any  additional  preface,  were 
neither  warranted  nor  convenient;  especially  speaking 
before  a  King,  the  exactness  of  wliosti  judgment  ought 
to  scatter  and  chase  away  all  uiine(;essary  speech,  as  the 
sun  doth  a  va[)or. 

This  only  I  may  say  :  Since  this  session  of  Parliament 
we  have  seen  your  glory,  in  the  solemnity  of  the  creation 
of  this  most  noble  Prince.  We  have  heard  your  wisdom, 
ill  sundry  exeelleiit  s[)eeches  which  you  have  delivered 
amongst  us.     Now   we  hope  to  find  and   feel  the  elTecta 


lUlO.]  SPEECH  ON  PRESENTING  PETITION  OF  GRIEVANCES.    613 

i)t'  your  goodness,  in  your  gracious  answer  to  these  our 
petitions.  For  tliis  we  are  persuaded,  that  the  attribute 
which  was  given  by  one  of  the  wisest  writers  to  two  of 
the  best  emperors  ;  Bivus  Nerva  et  divus  Trajanus  (saith 
Tacitus)  res  olim  insociahiles  mucuerunt^  Imperium  et 
Libertatem  ;  may  be  truly  applied  to  your  Majesty.  For 
never  was  there  such  a  conservator  of  regality  in  a  crown, 
nor  ever  such  a  protector  of  lawful  freedom  in  a  subject. 

Only  this  (excellent  Sovereign)  :  Let  not  the  sound 
of  grievances  (though  it  be  sad)  seem  harsh  to  your 
princely  ears  :  it  is  but  gemitus  columbce,  the  mourning 
of  a  dove,  with  that  patience  and  humility  of  heart  which 
appertaineth  to  loving  and  loyal  subjects.  And  far  be  it 
from  us,  but  that  in  the  midst  of  the  sense  of  our  griev- 
ances we  should  remember  and  acknowledge  the  infinite 
benefits,  which  by  your  Majesty  next  under  God  we  do 
enjoy  ;  which  bind  us  to  wish  unto  your  life  fullness  of 
days ;  and  unto  your  line  royal,  a  succession  and  con- 
tinuance even  unto  the  world's  end. 

It  restetli  that  unto  these  petitions  here  included  I  do 
add  one  more  that  goeth  to  them  all :  which  is,  that  if  in 
the  words  and  frame  of  them  there  be  any  thing  offensive, 
or  that  we  have  expressed  ourselves  otherwise  than  we 
should  or  would,  that  your  Majesty  would  cover  it  and 
cast  the  veil  of  your  grace  upon  it,  and  accept  of  our  good 
intentions  and  help  them  by  your  benign  interpretation. 

Lastly,  I  am  most  humbly  to  crave  a  particular  pardon 
for  myself  that  have  used  these  few  words,  and  scarcely 
should  have  been  able  to  have  used  any  at  all,  in  respect 
of  the  reverence  which  I  bear  to  your  person  and  judg- 
ment, had  I  not  been  somewhat  relieved  and  comforted 
by  tlie  experience  which  in  ni}'  service  and  access  I  have 
had  of  your  continual  grace  and  favor. 

The  answer  to  this  petition  was  given  on  Tuesday  the 
lOth  of  July,  both  Houses  attending  by  command.     The 


Ci4    THE  KING'S  ANSWER  TOUCHING  IMPOSITIONS.   [Book  IV. 

length  of  the  paper  and  the  shortness  of  the  thne  was 
alleged  with  very  good  show  as  a  reason  for  not  dealing 
with  all  the  articles  at  that  time.  An  obvious  distinction 
of  character  suggested  the  separation  of  those  which  con- 
cerned matters  of  government  from  those  wliicli  concerned 
matters  of  profit,  and  the  selection  of  the  last  (which  all 
related  to  impositions  of  one  kind  or  another,  and  went 
naturally  with  the  great  question  which  had  been  so  long 
under  debate)  to  be  answered  at  once.  But  before  he 
proceeded  further,  the  King  called  upon  Salisbury  to  de- 
clare "  both  what  occasion  had  moved  his  Majesty  to 
lay  the  late  Impositions,  and  how  he  (as  his  officer)  had 
observed  his  direction  in  the  distribution  of  the  same. 
Who  thereupon  made  "  (says  Carleton)  "  a  long  and 
good  narration,  showing  the  reasons  of  those  impositions 
with  all  the  circumstances  ;  —  excusing  himself  for  the 
invention  of  this  means  to  raise  money,  upon  the  last 
Lord  Treasurer ;  for  the  occasion,  upon  the  Irish  wars 
in  Odohartie's  rebellion;  for  the  ratings  upon  the  mer- 
chants, —  who  being  assembled  from  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom  gave  their  assents  ;  and  for  the  warrantise  upon 
tlie  Judges,  —  who  had  confiruied  the  proceedings  in  the 
general  by  a  partial  judgment :  So  as  wherever  the  fault 
lay  (if  it  wava  a  fault)  my  Lord  stood  rectus  in  curld.^' 

"  Of  which  he  had  no  sooner  made  an  end  "  (says 
another  reporter)  "  but  the  King  (well  approving  his 
relation,  and  adding  thereunto  many  things  tliat  were 
material)  commanded  the  (Ilerk  of  the  Higher  House  to 
read  ()j)enly  some  such  answers  as  he  had  causetl  to  bo 
put  in  wi'iting  to  some  part  of  the  grievances  which  had 
been  exliil)ited  by  the  Low^er  House,  with  promise  io 
give  answer  to  the  rest  before  the  session  ended.  The 
BubstaiK-e  whereof  was  this  Avhich  followeth  :  — 

"First,  that  the.  payment  upon  ale-houses  should  cease. 

"  That  the  impost  upon  coals  shipped  from  the  river  of 
Blith  should  be  taken  away. 


IGIO.]         THE  KING'S  ANSWER  TOUCHING  IMPOSITIONS.         615 

"  That  the  new  Drapery  should  be  referred  absolutely 
to  the  law. 

"  And  for  the  Impositions  upon  merchandise,  he  pro- 
nounced this  answer  with  his  own  mouth  :  that  now  they 
had  heard  the  cause  and  manner  of  his  proceeding  in 
them,  his  Majesty  would  make  them  see  that  he  would 
be  so  far  from  giving  his  people  cause  to  fear  any  preju- 
dice by  using  too  severe  a  hand  in  that  matter,  as  al- 
though he  knew  that  the  Lower  House  was  not  a  place 
to  determine  the  laws  in  a  case  of  a  private  man,  much 
less  concerning  a  Prince's  right,  yet  he  was  pleased  out 
of  hfl  own  mere  grace  to  assure  them  (besides  the  great 
abatdraent  which  he  had  made  during  this  session  of 
divers  imposts  to  his  great  loss)  that  he  would  be  will- 
ing to  assent  to  an  act  by  which  his  power  should  be 
suspended  from  imposing  any  more  upon  merchandises, 
without  consent  of  Parliament." 

To  "  let  losers  have  their  words  "  is  excellent  advice  to 
the  winner,  and  might  well  have  been  acted  on  in  this 
case  by  the  House  of  Commons.  Whatever  lawyers 
might  think  of  the  justice  of  the  judgment  in  Bates's 
case,  there  could  be  no  doubt  it  was  a  very  strong  point 
in  favor  of  the  government.  Possession  is  nine  points 
of  the  law,  and  till  that  judgment  was  revei'sed,  it  could 
not  be  denied  that  the  Government  was  in  possession. 

"  Though  I  am  no  professor  of  the  law,"  said  Salisbury, 
"  (and  therefore  mean  not  to  make  lawyers  sport  by  put- 
ting cases)  yet  so  far  as  my  weak  logic  will  help  me  to 
make  a  formal  and  a  binding  argument,  I  will  make  use 
of  it  rather  than  to  suffer  any  imputation  upon  the  jus- 
tice of  his  Majesty's  actions. 

"•  First,  I  say  that  whatever  is  done  by  the  warrant  of 
a  legal  judgment,  and  in  his  proper  seat  of  justice,  is  not 
an  lawful. 

"  The  new  impositions  were  laid  upon  merchandises  in 
the  port  after  a  legal  judgment,  wherebj'  his  Majesty's 


616     THE  KING'S  ANSWER  TOUCHING  IMPOSITIONS.     [Book  IV. 

right  was  declared  in  open  Court,  judicially  argued,  and 
sentenced,  in  the  case  of  currants. 

"  And  therefore  the  new  Impositions  were  not  unlaw- 
ful." 

As  against  the  charge  of  illegality,  the  argument  seems 
to  me  unanswerable.  The  judgment  might  be  reversed, 
or  the  law  might  be  altered  ;  but  until  one  or  other  were 
done,  I  do  not  see  how  the  conclusion  could  be  resisted. 
And  therefore  if  the  King,  having  so  strong  a  point  in  his 
favor,  was  willing  to  compromise  the  dispute  by  volun- 
tarily divesting  himself  of  the  disputed  power  for  the 
future,  I  think  the  Commons  would  have  done  wisely 
to  leave  the  dispute  and  take  the  offer.  It  was  a  great 
surrender  ;  and  there  was  no  chance  of  getting  the  thing 
done  so  quickly,  cheaply,  and  quietly,  in  any  other  way. 

But  if  the  loser  should  always  be  allowed  to  have  his 
words,  it  is  only  because  they  can  do  him  no  good ;  and 
we  want  another  proverb  to  warn  him  for  his  own  sake 
not  to  indulge  in  them.  If  Bacon  had  been  employed  to 
draw  up  the  answer  to  this  article  as  well  as  the  rest,  I 
think  he  would  have  left  to  Salisbury  the  assertion  of  the 
right  in  law,  and  made  the  King  say  no  more  than  that 
he  "was  willing  to  divest  himself  of  it  by  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment. As  it  was,  the  implied  assumption  that  he  did 
legally  possess  the  power  which  the  House  had  just  voted 
contrary  to  law,  and  therewithal  the  implied  censure  of 
their  whole  proceeding,  marred  the  elfect  of  a  concession 
wliieli  should  have  been  accepted  with  mere  gratitude 
and  joy.  How  it  ivas  accc^pted  we  learn  from  Dudley 
('arleton,  who  appears  to  have  been  a  very  dispassionate 
though  a  very  attentive  and  intelligent  observer.  The 
qucHtiouH  relating  to  inatt(M-s  of  profit  (he  says)  the  King 
"  presently  resolved  to  the  satisfaction  of  that  house  in 
all  jiarLiculars  ;  save  only  in  tlu;  new  Impositions:  in 
wiiiih,  I  hough  he  j)romised  to  give  way  to  a  bill  that 
never  any  hereafter  should   be   lai<l   but  with   th(>  assent 


1610.]  PliOGRESS  OF  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.  G17 

of  Parliament,  yet  because  be  did  not  as  freely  take  aAvay 
all  whicb  were  last  imposed,  tbey  went  away  ill  satisfied  : 
wbicb  tbey  testified  in  tbeir  next  day's  meeting,  wlien  as 
subsidies  were  proposed,  and  no  more  could  be  obtained 
but  one  subsidy  and  a  single  fifteen :  wbicli  a  knavisb 
burgess  said  (but  in  the  bearing  of  few)  would  do  the 
King  much  good,  and  serve  as  a  subpoena  ad  melius  re- 
spondendum.^^ 

That  knavish  remark,  though  made  in  the  hearing  of 
few,  probably  expressed  the  thoughts  of  many.  The 
Kino^'s  last  demand  for  his  Tenures  was  still  under  con- 
sideration  ;  and  it  was  not  perhaps  the  reception  of  the 
petition  so  much  as  the  thought  of  the  impending  bar- 
gain that  suggested  that  cautious  vote.  The  most  dis- 
creet and  gracious  answer  could  hardly  have  made  them 
forget  that  an  ampler  subsidy  would  have  made  the  King 
harder  to  deal  with. 

He  had  asked,  in  exchange  for  the  things  he  had  con- 
sented to  part  with,  ,£220,000.  On  the  13th  of  July,  the 
Commons  aa-i'eed  amons^  themselves  to  offer  X180,000  : 
—  a  sufiicient  proof  that  thei/  at  least  were  really  desir- 
ous of  concluding  the  bargain.  Whether  the  Government 
wei'e  equally  in  earnest  appears  to  have  been  a  question 
with  some ;  though,  considering  that  the  Crown  had  cer- 
tainly the  greater  need  and  apparently  the  greater  gain, 
it  is  hard  to  imagine  why.  "  Now  we  are  come  so  near  a 
bargain,"  writes  Carleton  on  the  same  day,  "  we  shall  be 
able  to  make  judgment  at  our  next  confei'ence  with  the 
Lords,  whether  this  contract  which  hath  been  so  long  en- 
tertained, was  from  the  beginning  de  veras,  as  the  Lords 
would  have  us  believe,  or  de  hurlas,  as  some  of  our  wise 
men  still  suspect." 

If  the  question  were  to  be  decided  by  the  result  of  that 
conference,  the  answer  must  undoubtedly  have  been,  de 
veras.  "Yesterday,"  writes  Carleton  again  on  the  17th, 
^  we  had  a  conference  with  the  Lords,  and  nothing  con- 


G18  PROGRESS  OF  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.        [Book  IV. 

eluded  in  the  matter  of  contract,  by  reason  of  the  King's 
absence,  but  much  art  used  on  both  sides :  on  ours  to 
value  our  offer,  which  was  performed  by  Sir  Edwyn 
Sandys,  and  at  large  you  will  not  doubt ;  on  the  Lords' 
side,  pour  encherir  la  mercJuDidise,  and  this  by  my  Lord 
Treasurer,  who  came  upon  some  disadvantage,  because 
our  men  were  prepared,  but  did  so  well  acquit  himself  ex 
re  natd,  and  so  clearly  open  all  the  particularities  of  the 
contract,  that  he  gave  very  extraordinary  contentment ; 
though  for  the  issue  of  it  we  know  no  more  than  before 
what  judgment  to  make,  for  it  is  wrapped  up  in  the 
clouds,  and  either  we  shall  have  it  in  a  sweet  shower  or 
a  storm  the  last  day  of  the  session.  Yet  there  is  likeli- 
hood of  another  conference  before  that  day,  when  mat- 
ters will  be  brought  nearer  to  a  point." 

Though  the  year  was  too  far  advanced  to  allow  of  their 
following  the  business  to  its  full  conclusion,  there  was 
every  appearance  (so  far)  of  earnestness  and  good  faith 
on  both  sides ;  and  before  they  parted  formal  memorials 
were  exchanged  between  the  two  Houses,  setting  forth 
the  state  of  the  negotiation,  and  binding  themselves  to  go 
on  with  it  at  their  return.  But  there  was  one  important 
business  which  still  remained  to  be  transacted,  and  upon 
the  issue  of  which  the  fate  of  the  bargain  might  still 
depend.  Thus  far,  the  Commons  had  made  good  their 
resolution  that  Grievances  and  Supplies  should  proceed 
together  with  equal  steps,  and  had  found  the  fruit  of  it. 
But  the  steps  could  only  be  alternate.  It  was  in  this 
cjtse  the  last  step  that  gave  the  advantage  ;  and  Salisbury 
won  it  for  the  King.  By  dividing  the  Gri(wances  into 
matters  of  government  and  matters  of  profit,  and  taking 
the  last  first,  he  contrived  after  all  to  extract  a  definitive 
a.ssent  from  the;  C'omuions  to  the  proposed  terms  of  con- 
tract, before  tiicy  had  heard  the  King's  answer  to  the 
most  important  articles  in  their  petition.  The  memori- 
als of  the  contract  were  exchanged  on  Saturday  the  21st 


1610.]         BALANCE  OF  LOSS  AND  GAIN  TO  THE  PEOPLE.         619 

of  July,  and  on  Monda}^  the  23d  his  Majesty's  gracious 
answer  to  the  remaining  grievances  was  read  openly  by 
the  Clerk  ;  after  which  the  Parliament  was  immediately 
prorogued  till  the  16th  of  October.  Now  these  remain- 
ing grievances  included  all  those  (the  new  Impositions 
only  excepted)  upon  which  the  Government  and  the  pop- 
ular party  were  most  at  variance,  —  Deprived  and  si- 
lenced ministers.  Pluralities  and  non-residents,  abuse  of 
Excommunication,  authority  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Com- 
mission, Prohibitions,  Proclamations,  and  Jurisdiction  of 
Provincial  Councils,  —  and  although  the  answers  when 
they  came  were  put  in  as  gracious  a  shape  as  could  be 
devised,  it  was  not  possible  to  make  them  satisfactory 
to  those  with  whom  the  complaint  originated.  To  give 
them  an  opportunity  of  talking  all  these  matters  over 
in  the  House,  while  the  contract  remained  unconcluded, 
would  no  doubt  have  been  inconvenient.  But  would  it 
have  been  less  inconvenient  than  that  they  should  be 
sent  to  talk  them  over  for  three  months  in  the  country, 
where  the  case  on  behalf  of  the  government  was  not 
likely  to  be  so  well  represented?  I  think  not.  The 
Memorial  of  the  Contract  drawn  up  by  the  Commons 
contains  their  answer  to  a  question  which  had  been  pro- 
posed to  them  by  the  Lords  —  who  would  seem  therefore 
not  to  have  been  without  their  apprehensions  on  this  head 
—  namely,  "  What  matter  of  content  in  the  interim,  shall 
be  brought  down  into  the  country  ?"     Their  answer  is  — 

"  1.  To  the  meaner  sort,  the  assuring  tht-m  that  nothing  shall 
be  levied  upon  their  ordinary  victual ;  videlicet,  Bread,  IJeer, 
and  Corn,  nor  upon  their  handy  labors. 

"  2.  To  the  bettter  sort,  the  view  of  those  things,  which  in 
lieu  of  that  sum  we  shall  receive  from  his  Majesty  :  whereof 
copies  to  be  taken  down  by  such  as  please. 

"  3.  In  general,  to  all,  his  Majesty's  gracious  answer  to  our 
Grievances. " 

But  this  was  written  before  the  gracious  answer  to  the 


610     BALANCE  OF  LOSS  AND  GMN  TO  THE  PEOPLE.     [Book  IV. 

last  articles  hud  been  delivered,  and  it  must  have  seemed 
doubtful,  when  it  came,  whether  it  was  gracious  enough 
for  the  purpose.  To  "  the  meaner  sort "  indeed,  the  as- 
surance offered  would  probably  be  sufficient.  But  it  was 
not  with  the  meaner  sort  that  the  difficulty  would  lie. 
'^  The  better  sort,"  in  balancing  the  cost  against  the  gain, 
would  compare  the  taxes  to  which  they  had  been  accus- 
tomed with  those  which  were  now  threatened.  Those 
who  were  old  enough  to  have  paid  taxes  for  twenty  years 
would  remember  what  they  had  had  to  pay  in  1593  and 
1594,  when  for  the  first  time  a  whole  subsidy  (which 
then  yielded  <£  152,790)  was  levied  within  the  year,  and 
this  for  two  years  in  succession.  That  was  the  heaviest 
taxation  that  had  ever  been  before  or  since,  while  it 
lasted :  but  the  case  was  altogether  exceptional,  and  in 
the  two  years  which  followed,  only  half  the  amount  was 
paid  —  which  was  then  the  ordinary  rate.  After  this 
followed  seven  consecutive  years  in  which  they  had  had 
to  pay  a  whole  subsidy  each  year;  .£141,000  being  the 
average  of  the  first  three,  and  £134,471  the  average 
of  the  last  four.  Since  which  time  the  sums  annually 
received  by  the  Government  on  account  of  the  Fifteenths 
and  Subsidies  of  the  Laity,  had  been  as  follows  :  — 
In  1605-6 £29,539 

1606-7 99,005 

1607-8 126,560 

1608-9 81,703 

1609-10 70,899 

Sucli  being  the  experiences  of  taxation  then  fresh  in 
memory,  the  "  matter  of  content  "  which  the  members 
of  the  Lower  House  liad  to  carry  down  to  tiieir  constitu- 
ents in  the  counti'y  was  tliat,  in  consideration  of  being 
relieved  from  certain  burdens  the  value  of  which  in 
money  was  estimated  at  X80,000  per  annum,  they  were 
to  be  burdened  tliencc^forth  with  a  perpetual  tax  of 
£200,000,  to  be  secured  to  the  Crown  '^  by  Act  of  Parlia- 


IGIO.J  BALANCE  OF  LOSS  AND  GAIN  TO  THE  PEOPLE.         621 

ment  in  as  strong  sort  as  could  be  devised :  "  which 
would  be  much  the  same  thing  as  paying  a  whole  subsidy 
every  year,  Parliament  or  no  Parliament,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  such  subsidies  as  every  Parliament  would  there- 
after have  to  grant  as  the  price  and  condition  of  being 
continued.  For  if  without  Parliameiit  the  Crown  was 
to  be  assured  of  a  larger  annual  income  than  it  had  ever 
had  yet  in  times  of  peace,  and  almost  as  large  as  it  had 
ever  had  for  many  years  together  in  times  of  war,  it 
would  always  be  able  to  settle  a  dispute  by  a  dissolu- 
tion. 

And  if  this  was  to  be  their  position  and  prospect  with  re- 
gard to  taxation,  what  would  be  their  position  and  pros- 
pect with  regard  to  grievances  ?  The  fate  of  the  Griev- 
ances —  I  do  not  say  under  which  the  people  were  then 
groaning,  because  I  do  not  know  that  anybody  groaned  ; 
but  for  the  redress  of  which  the  House  of  Commons  had 
just  been  petitioning  —  could  not  fail  to  suggest  the  an- 
swer. Except  in  the  matter  of  Impositions,  the  Govern- 
ment, though  it  promised  to  use  its  authority  justly,  did 
not  talk  of  parting  with  any  authority.  Suppose  any  of 
the  powers  which  it  retained  should  be  abused  ;  suppose 
the  favorite  preacher  should  be  silenced,  the  parish  church 
left  without  a  minister,  fines  illegally  exacted,  penalties 
imposed  by  Proclamations  and  enforced  by  the  Star 
Chamber  ;  —  what  was  to  be  done  ?  They  could  peti- 
tion again  ;  and  if  their  petition  produced  no  effect,  they 
could  refuse  to  grant  any  additional  supply.  But  as 
they  would  not  be  able  to  suspend  the  <£ 200,000  per 
annum  which  was  now  to  be  made  certain  and  pei'petual, 
the  refusal  could  be  borne.  They  could  pass  Acts,  and 
send  them  to  the  Upper  House.  But  if  those  Acts  were 
rejected,  or  returned  with  amendments,  what  could  they 
do  more  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  a  member  trying  to  ex- 
plain to  "  one  of  the  better  sort  "  how,  upon  "  the  view 
of  those  things  wliicli  in  lieu  of  that  sum  they  should  re- 


{',■22      BALANCE  OF  LOSS  AND  GAIN  TO  THE  PEOPLE.     [Book  IV, 

ceive  from  his  Majesty,"  they  had  reason  to  rejoice  iu 
the  bargain,  must  have  had  a  hard  task  before  him  ;  and 
if  we  find  that  after  three  months  spent  in  discussing  the 
merits  of  the  bargain  with  those  whom  it  most  concerned, 
members  came  back  less  in  love  with  it,  the  fact  will  not 
be  thought  to  need  any  curious  explanation. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A.   D.   1610-11.      ^TAT.   50-51. 

The  latest  mention  which  I  have  met  with  of  Bacon's 
mother  was  in  a  letter  to  the  Queen,  dated  12  March, 
1599,  where  he  spoke  of  her  "health"  being  "worn," 
and  the  silence  about  her  since  then  is  so  complete  that 
it  has  been  supposed  that  she  died  soon  after.  That  we 
have  no  letters  of  later  date  from  her  or  to  her,  is  indeed 
not  surprising.  Those  of  earlier  date,  of  which  we  have 
such  a  great  number  in  the  Lambeth  collection,  would 
probably  never  have  been  heard  of  but  for  Anthony  Ba- 
con's habit  of  keeping  all  his  correspondence  without  dis- 
tinction and  consequently  leaving  behind  him  so  many 
bundles  of  imperfectly  arranged  papers,  the  valuable  and 
the  worthless  mixed  confusedly  together,  that  they  were 
probably  never  either  sorted  or  examined  during  his 
brother's  life.  Any  correspondence  which  passed  after- 
wards with  her  or  about  her  would  naturally  be  kept 
separate,  and  so  destroyed  or  lost  all  together.  But 
though  the  disappearance  of  all  letters  is  easily  accounted 
for,  the  absence  of  all  casual  mention  of  her,  through  so 
many  years,  is  not  so  :  especially  in  such  a  thing  as  the 
"  Commeutarius  Solutus,"  where  if  she  had  been  still  liv- 
ing in  the  enjoyment  of  her  dower,  either  at  Gorl)ambur^ 
or  elsewhere,  the  very  inventory  of  the  estate  could  not 
have  been  complete  without  reference  to  her.  The  fact 
that  there  is  not  a  single  allusion  to  her  throughout  that 
note-book  would  certainly,  but  for  the  evidence  of  the 
next   letter,  have  satisfied  me  that  she  died  before  the 


G24  DEATH   OF   BACON'S  MOTHER.  [Book  IV. 

date  of  it ;  and  (the  evidence  of  the  next  letter  proving 
conclusively  that  she  was  still  alive)  we  are  left  to  account 
for  it  as  we  can.  The  supposition  which  seems  to  me 
most  probable  is,  that  she  lost  the  command  of  her 
faculties  some  years  before  her  death,  that  the  manage- 
ment of  her  affairs  was  taken  out  of  her  hands,  and  that 
somebody  was  employed  to  take  care  of  her.  There  are 
symptoms  in  her  earlier  correspondence  of  an  excitement 
and  irritability  which  might  easily  end  in  that  way,  and 
if  it  did,  the  silence  would  be  accounted  for.  The  only 
allusion  to  her  later  years  which  I  have  met  with  is  in 
Bishop  Goodman's  "  Court  of  King  James  the  First,  "  and 
is  in  these  words :  "  But  for  Bacon's  mother,  she  was 
but  little  better  than  frantic  in  her  age."  There  were 
times  between  1593  and  1597  when  almost  the  same 
tliinfr  mio-ht  have  been  said  of  her.  But  if  her  frantic 
moods  took  the  same  form  and  became  more  frequent, 
it  is  hard  to  imagine  how  they  could  have  escaped  all 
notice.  It  seems  more  likely  that  the  morbid  irritability 
was  the  precursor  of  decay,  and  that  she  grew  helpless 
as  she  grew  older.  Her  exact  age  I  have  not  been  able 
to  learn,  but  she  was  the  second  of  five  daughters  and  her 
eldest  sister  would  have  been  87  if  she  had  lived:  so  that 
we  may  presume  she  was  above  80. 

•     TO   SIR   MICHAEL  HICKES. 

Sir  Michael  Hicks,  —  It  is  but  a  wish  and  not  any 
ways  to  desire  it  to  your  trouble.  But  I  heartily  wish 
I  luid  your  company  here  at  my  Mother's  funeral,  which 
I  purpose  on  Thursday  next  in  the  forenoon.  I  dare 
])romise  you  a  good  sermon  to  be  made  by  Mr.  Ftmton, 
the  prcadicr  of  (iray's  Inn  ;  for  he  never  inaketli  other. 
Feast  I  Mi;il<(>  none.  I^iit  if  I  niought  liave  your  com- 
]):iny  for  two  or  three,  days  at  my  house  I  should  pass 
over  this  moiinirul  oceiision  with  more  comfort.  II'  your 
Hn\\  h;i(l  cniirmiii-d  :il  S'  .fuli:iu's  it  moutrht  liave  bccm  an 


1610-11.]     DISSATISFACTION  WITH  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.     625 

adamant  to  have  drawn  you ;  but  now  if  you  come  I 
must  say  it  is  only  for  my  sake.  I  commend  myself  to 
my  Lady,  and  commend  my  wife  to  you  both,  and  rest 

yours  ever  assured 

Fr.  Bacon. 

This  Monday  the 
the  27tii  of  August,  1610. 

The  three  months'  consideration  and  discussion  in  the 
country  of  the  terms  of  the  Great  Contract  had  not 
tended  to  smooth  its  way  with  either  party.  And  though 
it  might  seem  that  an  arrangement  so  advantageous  to 
the  Crown  should  have  had  all  the  help  which  the  Court 
party  could  give,  this  does  not  appear  to  have  been  the 
case.  Take  the  figures  as  given  in  the  Journals  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  it  seems  impossible  to  doubt 
that  as  a  financial  arrangement  the  Crown  would  receive 
b}'  it  a  great  deal  more  than  it  gave ;  and  would  be  made 
more  independent  of  Parliament  than  it  had  ever  been 
before,  or  was  ever  likely  to  be  as  long  as  old  precedents 
were  held  sacred.  But  the  Commons  would  naturally  in- 
cline to  abate  the  price  of  that  which  they  were  going  to 
buy ;  and  in  estimating  the  revenue  derived  from  Ward- 
ships and  Purveyance  at  .£80,000  it  is  likely  enough  that 
they  undervalued  it.  Another  calculation,  attributed  to 
no  less  a  man  than  Sir  Julius  Ctesar,  then  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer  and  in  close  alliance  with  Salisbury,  es- 
timates the  rights  to  be  parted  with  as  worth  £115,000  a 
year  as  then  administered,  and  as  capable  of  improve- 
ments which  would  yield  £85,000  a  year  more.  Now  if 
in  exchange  for  the  £200,000  yearly  support  the  Crown 
Avas  to  give  up  £115,000  a  year  in  esse,  and  £85,000  a 
year  in  posse,  together  with  the  authority,  influence,  and 
reputation  which  went  along  with  the  existing  tenures, 
and  at  the  same  time  all  hope  of  occasional  assistance 
from  Parliament,  —  if  a  man  so  well  informed  on  such 
matters  as  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  could  make 

VOL.    I.  -10 


326    DISSATISFACTION  WITH  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.   [Book  IV. 

it  appear  by  figures  that  the  King  was  in  fact  giving  up 
of  his  own  the  full  equivalent  in  money  of  that  which 
he  was  bargaining  to  receive,  and  a  good  deal  more  in 
money's  worth,  and  that  his  present  necessities  would 
remain  unrelieved,  —  it  could  not  have  been  difficult  to 
distaste  him  with  the  proposed  arrangement.  And  there 
were  many  about  him  who  from  principle  or  interest 
would  naturally  labor  to  deter  him  from  concluding  it. 
What  the  people  were  to  gain  l)y  the  remission  of  these 
dues  of  the  Crown  was  what  the  middlemen  through 
whom  they  were  collected  had  to  lose.  The  whole  host 
of  suitors,  high  and  low,  would  be  interested  against  the 
change.  And  if  there  were  not  also  many  most  respect- 
able and  disinterested  persons  who  saw  in  the  abandon- 
ment of  immemorial  customs  the  ruin  of  the  constitution 
of  which  they  had  been  the  bulwarks,  the  gentlemen  of 
England  must  have  undergone  a  greater  change  since 
James's  time  than  nature  seems  ever  to  permit  in  the 
same  race  and  climate.  It  is  true,  that  the  House  of 
Lords,  so  far  as  we  can  gather  their  proceedings  from  the 
Journals,  supjiorted  Salisbury  throughout  with  unanim- 
ity :  "  the  little  beagle  had  run  a  true  and  perfect  scent 
w  hich  brought  the  rest  of  tlie  great  hounds  to  a  perfect 
tune."  But  the  loyalty  which  forbade  them  publicly  to 
f)l)struet  a  ]K)licy  Avhich  the  King  liad  been  persuaded 
j)ublicly  to  adopt,  could  not  ])revent  them  from  secretly 
disliking  and  deploring,  and  privately  warning  the  King 
against  it.  It  was  rciported  about  this  time  that  Salis- 
bury was  falling  out  of  favor,  and  (though  rumors  to 
that  effect  would  naturally  be  suggested  by  the  rise  of 
Carr,  and  tnight  have  no  other  ground)  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  from  Hishop  Goodman's  remarks  upon  what  he 
calls  his  ''fall,"  that  then;  was  sonic  Inilli  In  it. 

"  The  true  c^usc  of  his  fall,"  says  the  liisliop,  "  was  this  : 
tt  ;^r«  at  peer  of  the  kingdom  lying  upon  his  death-hed  sent  the 
King  word  he  was  desirons  to  speak  with  him.     The   King,  as 


1610-11.]  CHANGE  OF  FEELING  AS  TO  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.  t)27 

his  manner  was,  desiring  that  no  notice  might  be  taken  of  his 
coming,  sent  the  Earl  of  Dunbar  to  visit  the  sick  man,  excusing 
himself  for  not  coming,  and  desiring  him  to  impart  to  the  Earl 
what  he  would  speak  unto  him,  and  he  would  take  it  very 
kindly.  Here  the  sick  man  did  express  great  affection  and  duty 
to  the  King,  and  desired  him  not  to  lose  any  part  of  his  prerog- 
ative, especially  the  Court  of  Wards  and  other  great  royalties 
which  his  predecessors  had,  for  if  he  should  part  with  these  he 
should  hardly  be  able  to  govern ;  that  the  subject  was  more 
obedient  and  did  observe  the  King  more  for  these  than  for  any 
otlier  laws  or  other  respects  whatsoever ;  that  the  subject  was 
bound  to  relieve  him  and  to  supply  his  occasions  without  any 
such  contractings ;  and  therefore  he  did  desire  him,  for  the  ne- 
cessary support  of  his  own  government,  not  to  put  his  lands 
unto  fee-farms ;  and  whei'eas  at  this  time  some  tlid  endeavor  to 
engross  and  monopolize  the  King,  and  kept  oth^r  able  men  out 
of  his  service,  that  the  King,  as  God  had  blessed  him  with  wis- 
dom and  judgment,  would  take  such  able  men  ii^to  his  service 
as  might  from  time  to  time  be  faithful  to  him  and  to  his  succes- 
sors. When  the  Earl  of  Dunbar  had  delivered  this  message  to 
the  King,  the  King  wished  that,  if  it  might  stand  with  God's 
will  [that]  he  were  £10,000  in  debt  to  save  his  life ;  and  ever 
after  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  who  had  been  a  great  stii'rer  in  that 
business,  and  was  the  man  aimed  at,  began  to  decline. 

Who  this  dying  peer  may  have  been  I  do  not  know, 
nor  how  much  credit  may  be  due  to  Bishop  Goodman's 
report.  But  I  have  little  doubt  that  there  were  many 
people  who  took  this  view  of  the  question,  and  that  it 
was  one  which  would  find  easy  entrance  into  the  King's 
.nind.  Now  if  the  King  feared  that  the  Conti-act  would 
deliver  him  bound  into  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  the 
people  feared  that  it  would  deliver  them  bound  into  the 
hands  of  the  King,  and  Salisbury  foresaw  that  instead 
of  establishing  him  in  the  King's  favor  it  would  dis- 
credit and  defeat  him,  it  is  easy  to  understand  why  (in 
spite  of  the  formal  acceptance  of  it  in  substance  by  the 
two  Houses)  the  chances  were  against  its  being  carried 


628  CHANGE  OF  FEKLING  AS  TO  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.  [Book  IV. 

through.  If  all  parties  had  been  eager  to  conclude  it,  the 
difficulties  would  have  been  great :  for  they  had  still  to 
agree  upon  the  manner  of  raising  the  money  and  upon 
the  securities  for  performance  of  the  contract  on  either 
side.  If  all  were  afraid  of  it,  it  was  sure  to  break  upon 
one  or  other  of  those  difficulties. 

The  Houses  met  again  on  the  16th  of  October  accord- 
ing to  the  order,  and  if  their  feeling  with  regard  to  the 
Contract  had  been  the  same  as  when  they  exchanged 
memorials  in  July,  they  had  only  to  go  on  with  it.  It 
seems,  however,  as  if  neither  party  had  been  disposed  to 
take  the  first  step.  What  was  said  on  the  subject  in 
either  House  we  have  no  means  of  knowing,  for  the 
Journals  of  the  Lords  give  no  notes  of  the  debates,  the 
Journals  of  the  Commons  for  that  session  have  been  lost, 
and  the  private  Journal  discovered  b}'^  Mr.  Gardiner  con- 
tains no  notice  of  what  passed  during  the  first  fortnight. 
But  more  than  a  week  had  gone  by  without  anything 
done  by  either,  when  the  Lords  invited  the  Commons  to  a 
Conference.  What  happened  at  that  Conference  (which 
took  place  on  the  25th  of  October)  we  do  not  know.  We 
know  only  that  the  next  act  of  the  Commons  was  to  send 
for  a  true  copy  of  tin;  King's  answer  to  their  petition  of 
Grievances  ;  and  that  their  entertainment  of  the  question 
was  so  dubious  or  so  dihitoiy  that  the  King  thought  it 
necessary  to  expostulate  with  th(Mn,  and  require  a  "reso- 
lute and  speedy  answer,  whether  they  would  proceed 
with  the  Contract,  yea  or  no." 

'i'hc  note  which  remains  of  the  {)roceedings  that  fol- 
lowed, though  it  is  but  a  scrap,  enables  us  to  understand 
wlicre  the  diflitudty  n^ally  lay,  and  why  the  Contract, 
having  advanced  so  far,  could  advance  no  further.  Both 
parties,  when  they  came  to  look  at  it  close,  were  afraid  of 
it.  The  Commons  felt  that  if  they  made  the  Crcnvn  in- 
dc'peniicnt  of  I'arliauKMit,  they  could  have  no  security  for 
what  they  were  to  get.     The   King  ftlt,  that  unless  hia 


1610-11.]  CHANGE  OF  FEEUNG  AS  TO  THE  GREAT  CONTRACT.  629 

debt  were  once  fairly  cleared  off,  the  Commons  wcnild 
still  have  a  liold  upon  liim,  by  means  of  which  they  might 
bring  him  to  a  worse  condition  than  he  had  been  in  be- 
fore. Neither  party  durst  risk  it,  unless  it  were  guarded 
with  conditions  which  the  other  durst  not  accept. 

It  was  on  Wednesday,  the  last  of  October,  that  the 
King  had  spoken  to  them  and  asked  for  their  "resolute 
and  speedy  answer."  The  tone  of  his  speech  almost 
invited  them  to  answer  no.  "  He  should  be  beholden 
unto  them,"  he  said,  "  though  they  did  deny  to  proceed; 
because  then  he  might  resolve  upon  some  other  course 
to  be  taken  for  the  supply  of  his  wants  ;  for  he  said  he 
was  resolved  to  cut  his  coat  according  to  his  cloth,  which 
he  could  not  do  till  he  knew  what  cloth  he  should  have 
to  make  it  of." 

Though  no  particulars  have  been  preserved  of  the  de- 
bate which  followed,  we  may  presume  that  it  ended  in 
the  appointment  of  a  Committee  to  prepare  the  answer ; 
and  that  they  brought  up  their  report  on  Saturday  ; 
when  a  discussion  took  place  of  which  we  have  the  fol- 
lowing note  :  — 

3  Novemher  1610. 

An  tinswer  to  the  King  framed  and  offered  by  Sir  Maurice 
Berkley,  which  being  read  was  disliked  as  too  ceremonious  and 
coraplimentical,  and  not  real  and  actual.  The  answer  was  to  ex- 
cuse our  slowness  by  want  of  competent  number.  And  that  if 
our  demands  be  granted,  and  no  more  shall  be  imposed  upon  the 
land,  his  Majesty  shall  perceive  that  we  now  are  as  constant  to 
persevere  with  the  contract  as  we  were  forward  to  undertake  it. 

The  objection  taken  by  the  House  to  the  proposed 
ansAver  was  the  more  significant,  because  Sir  Maurice 
Berkley  was  not  an  adherent  of  the  Court,  but  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  popular  party.  What  their  idea  of  a  "  real 
and  actual"  answer  was,  may  be  gathered  from  the  notes 
of  a  speech  by  Sir  Roger  Owen  —  the  only  speech  de- 
livered that  day  of  which  any  record  remains. 


630  FRESH  STIPULATIONS  ON  BOTH  SIDES.        [Book  IV. 

Divers  things  to  be  provided  for,  otherwise  he  was  unwilling 
the  contract  should  proceed. 

1.  Our  security  to  be  provided  for  by  a  full  answer  to  our 
grievances.  No  gap  to  be  left  open  for  the  King  to  impose 
upon  his  subjects. 

2.  Means  to  levy  it  to  be  such  as  it  may  be  least  burdensome 
to  the  subject. 

3.  Provision  to  be  made  that  this  £200.000  be  not  doubled 
nor  trebled  by  enhancing  of  the  coin  by  the  King. 

4.  Provision  that  the  explanation  of  doubts  may  be  by  Par- 
liament ;  and  that  we  may  have  Parliaments  hereafter  though 
the  King's  wants  be  fully  supplied 

5.  Provision  that  this  £200,000  per  annum  may  not  be  alien- 
ated from  the  Crown. 

As  nothing  is  said  of  any  final  resohition  I  conclude 
that  the  debate  was  adjourned  till  Monday.  But  the 
tone  of  the  discussion  having  sufficiently  indicated  what 
he  had  to  expect  from  them,  the  King  took  occasion  in 
the  mean  time  to  remind  them  of  what  they  were  to  ex- 
pect from  him.  And  when  they  met  on  jNIonday  the 
Speaker  had  a  message  to  communicate  which  quite  al- 
tered the  case. 

5  November. 

A  message  from  Ilis  Majesty  by  the  Speaker. 

His  Majesty,  having  by  .speech  in  person,  upon  just  and  ap- 
parent reasons  drawn  from  his  necessities,  required  our  resolu- 
tion conceniing  the  contract,  thinks  lit  to  omit  nothing  that  may 
further  our  j)rocee(ling  without  niistuking,  etc.,  or  loss  of  lime. 

He  is  pleased  to  represent  unto  us  the  clear  mirror  of  his 
neart,  and  to  .><et  bt'fore  us  the  essential  parts  of  the  contract, 
est  the  taking  of  things  by  parts  might  induce  any  oblivion  or 
distraction  in  the  contemplation  of  the  whole. 

1.  He  declareth  that  it  never  was  his  intention,  nujch  less  his 
agreement,  to  proceed  linajly  with  the  contract,  except  he  might 
have  as  well  supply  as  sufiport,  to  disengage  himself  from  his 
di'blK.      In  reason  his  debts  nmst  l)e  first  paid. 

lli^  (ir>l  diiiiiiiid  [was]  for  the  supply  of  his  wants;  and  after 


1610-11.]  FKESII  STIPULATIONS  ON   BOTH  SIDES.  631 

the  point  of  tenures  and  the  distinction  of  support  and  supply 
came  in  by  our  motion. 

For  liis  supply  he  expected  to  receive  £500,000,  though  it  will 
be  less  than  will  pay  his  debts  and  set  liira  clear. 

The  Subsidy  and  loth  last  given  not  to  be  taken  as  part  of 
that  sum,  by  reason  of  his  great  charges  since  for  the  safety  and 
honor  of  the  State,  and  the  increase  of  his  wants. 

He  desireth  to  know  our  meanings  clearly  what  we  mean  to 
do  in  the  supply. 

2.  Upon  what  natures  the  support  may  be  raised.  His  pur- 
pose is  that  it  may  be  certain,  firm,  and  stable,  without  the 
meaner  sort,  and  without  diminution  of  his  present  profit. 

The  recompense  of  the  present  officers  to  proceed  from  us, 
but  not  from  his  Majesty  —  which  is  no  great  matter,  consider- 
ing it  depends  upon  their  lives,  and  that  it  is  not  warranted  by 
the  clause  which  gives  us  power  to  add  or  diminish,  because  it 
takes  profit  from  his  Majesty. 

And  therefore  he  expects  £200,000  de  claro,  etc. 

If  they  were  in  doubt  before  whether  to  proceed  with 
the  Contract  or  not,  they  could  be  m  no  doubt  after  the 
delivery  of  this  message.  Nor  could  the  King  himself,  I 
think,  have  expected  or  intended  it  to  have  any  other 
effect  than  that  of  hastening  the  resolution  to  give  the 
Contract  up.  He  knew  that  his  original  demand  of 
^600,000  supply  and  £200,000  annual  support  (in  addi- 
tion to  the  estimated  annual  value  in  monej^  of  the  pro- 
posed concessions)  had  been  peremptorily  declined,  and 
that  when  it  was  insisted  on  the  negotiation  had  been 
broken  off  distinctly  upon  that  ground.  He  knew  also 
that  the  Commons  had  only  been  tempted  to  take  it  up 
again  by  an  offer  from  the  Government  of  more  favor- 
iible  terms  :  and  he  knew  that  those  terms  contained  ncT 
allusion  whatever  to  any  demand  for  Supply.  If  he  be- 
lieved that  when  he  authorized  Salisbury  to  say  that  lie 
would  take  £200,000  in  exchange  for  the  specified  con- 
cessions, it  was  understood  that  his  debts  would  be  paid 
off  at  the  same  time,  he  must  have  been  deceived  by  his 


632  THE  NEGOTIATION  FINALLY  BROKEN  OFF.     [Book  IV. 

ministers.  It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  so  large  an 
item  could  be  understood  to  form  part  of  the  bargain  and 
not  mentioned  in  the  memorial.  It  may  be,  however,  that 
Salisbury  had  got  leave  to  make  that  offer  by  persuading 
him  that  Supply  would  follow  :  that  at  present  disputes 
about  the  Contract  and  excitement  about  Grievances  in- 
terfered with  Subsidies :  but  that  if  the  Commons  were 
gratified  with  a  gracious  answer  in  the  one  case  and  a 
good  bargain,  or  what  they  took  for  such,  in  the  other, 
they  would  be  in  a  more  liberal  humor  and  would  feel 
the  propriety  of  paying  off  his  debts.  And  it  may  be 
that  when  he  saw  that  hope  in  danger  of  disappointment, 
he  resolved  to  make  sure  of  one  thing  or  the  other,  — 
either  to  be  free  of  the  Contract  or  to  have  it  coupled 
with  a  grant  of  £500,000. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  who  was  answerable  for  the 
shifting  and  inconstant  proceeding  of  the  Government 
throughout  this  transaction.  It  may  be  that  the  King 
shrank,  when  it  came  to  the  point,  from  a  policy  which 
h(;  had  been  persuaded  to  sanction.  It  may  be  that  Sal- 
isbury offered,  or  pretended  to  offer,  more  than  he  had 
authority  to  do.  It  may  be  that  the  negotiation  was  set 
on  foot  with  a  view  to  some  other  end,  and  was  meant 
to  break  when  it  had  served  its  purpose.  What  is  cer- 
tain is  that  the  proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
was  both  indirect  and  inconsistent  from  beginning  to 
end  ;  and  that  the  final  breach  was  distinctly  their  choice 
and  act.  The  Commons  on  the  other  hand  acted  through- 
f)ut  openly,  lioncstly,  consistently,  anil  liberally;  and  with 
no  more  (•ir<iinis[)eetion  lliaii  the  case  required.  And 
though,  if  th(!  negotiation  had  proceeded,  it  would  prob- 
al)ly  have  broken  upon  some  demand  of  theirs  which  they 
could  not  in  i)iu<lence  have  foregone  and  the  King  could 
not  in  prinlenee  have  aiU)wed,  it  is  clear  that,  as  it  was, 
the  responsibility  for  th(!  bn^ach  did  not  at  all  Tu;  with 
thiiii.      A  iiiiaiiiiiioiis  resolution  nf)t  to    procei^d  witli  the 


f610-n.]      THE  NEGOTIATION  FINALLY   BROKEN  OFF.  633 

contract  upon  these  conditions  %Yas  the  inevitable  result 
of  the  hist  communication :  and  after  a  day  or  two  of  de- 
liberation the  following  answer  was  agreed  upon  :  — 

"  Nevertheless,  having  entered  into  due  consideration  of  the 
whole  business,  and  that  with  as  great  deliberation  as  your  Maj- 
esty's desire  touching  a  speedy  answer  could  permit,  we  have 
resolved  that  we  cannot  proceed  in  the  contract  according  to 
your  Majesty's  last  declaration  delivered  by  our  Speaker :  which 
our  answer  we  hope  shall  in  no  wise  offend  your  Majesty." 

That  an  answer  to  this  effect  was  expected  by  the 
King  may  be  inferred  from  the  tone  of  his  reply,  which 
is  thus  given  in  Mr.  Gardiner's  manuscript :  — 

"  To  this  his  Majesty  sent  an  answer  by  the  Speaker  on 
Wednesday,  14th  November,  that  sith  we  could  not  proceed  ac- 
cording to  his  last  declaration,  which  was  agreeable  to  his  first 
intention,  he  did  not  see  how  we  should  go  further  in  that  busi- 
ness." 

So  ended  the  great  project,  from  which  so  much  had 
been  promised  and  hoped,  leaving  all  parties  in  a  worse 
humor  than  before.  But  so  did  not  end  the  great  politi- 
cal difficulty  which  it  had  been  invented  to  overcome. 
That  difficulty  was  as  great  as  ever,  and  now  more  than 
ever  intractable.  The  debt  of  the  Crown  had  increased, 
the  expenditure  had  not  been  reduced,  the  inducements 
which  had  been  held  out  to  the  Commons  in  tlie  hope 
of  obtaining  from  them  a  contribution  adequate  to  the 
emergency,  having  proved  insufficient,  had  be«n  with- 
drawn, and  the  problem  of  November  was  the  same  as 
the  problem  of  February,  with  all  its  difficulties  aggra- 
vated. The  contract  being  abandoned  as  a  failure,  there 
was  nothing  left  but  an  appeal  to  the  House  of  Commons 
in  the  ordinary  way,  with  an  offer  of  popular  benefits, 
and  a  representation  of  the  need  of  supplies.  But  after 
all  that  had  passed  it  was  no  easy  matter  to  make  such 
an  appeal  other  than  a  veiy  flat  affair.     The  need  of  sup- 


634  NEW  PROPOSITIONS  FROM   SALISBURY.        [Book  IV. 

ply  had  been  matter  of  notoriety  for  the  last  nine  months, 
and  all  the  particulars  had  been  disclosed  and  discussed. 
And  the  longest  list  of  benefits  that  could  be  offered  to 
the  people,  could  not  but  seem  poor  by  the  side  of  those 
with  the  promise  of  which  they  had  been  so  long  tanta- 
lized, and  by  the  sudden  withdrawal  of  which  they  had 
been  so  recently  surprised  and  disappointed.  But  no 
other  course  was  left :  and  on  the  same  day  on  which  the 
King  declared  the  contract  at  an  end,  the  Commons  by 
invitation  met  the  Lords  in  conference,  to  hear  some  new 
proposition. 

The  new  plan  of  operation  appears  to  have  been  this. 
The  Lords  ^yere  to  invite  the  Commons  to  join  them  in 
petitioning  the  King  for  certain  measures  of  relief  to  the 
people ;  which  being  promised,  it  was  hoped  that  tliey 
would  see  the  expediency  of  relieving  the  King's  wants. 
The  Conference  was  opened  by  Salisbury  in  a  speech 
wliich  was  reported  to  the  House  by  Bacon  concluding 
with  an  enumeration  of  the  things  to  be  desired  b}'  both 
Houses. 

1.  Sixty  years  possession  a  bar  against  the  King. 

2.  No  lease  to  be  avoided  for  defect  of  security  or  con- 

ditions broken. 

3.  Upon  outlawries  the  creditor  to  be  first  satisfied  be- 

fore the  King. 

4.  Kespite  of  homage  to  be  taken  away. 

5.  Penal  laws  to  be  reformed. 

6.  Alt  obsolete  laws  to  be  taken  away. 

7.  Power  to  make  laws  in  Wales  to  be  repealed. 

8.  No  imposition  to  be  hereafter  set  but  l:)y  Parliament, 

and  those  that  are  to  be  taken  as  confirmed  by 

I*arllament. 
Til*'  measures  of  relief  wliich  it  was  proposed  to  peti- 
tion for  were  (it  will  be  seen)  of  considerable  value  ;  and 
had  such  a  proposal  b(^en  mad(;,  and  made  sincerely,  at 
the  opening  of  t!i(!  previous  session  befoi'e  the  state  of  the 


iClO-11.]         RESOLUTION  TO   DISSOLVE  PARLIAMENT.  635 

Exchequer  had  been  laid  so  bare,  and  before  the  recipro- 
cal obligations  of  Kings  and  subjects  had  been  put  upon 
the  basis  of  a  money  bargain,  the  plan  might  have  been 
very  successful.  After  such  a  course  of  promises,  expec- 
tations, misunderstandings  and  disappointments  as  they 
had  gone  through  since  February,  the  effect  was  very 
different.  The  discussion  of  them  in  the  Lower  House 
was  postponed  by  another  explanatory  message  from  the 
King  and  proceeded  through  interruptions  which  it  is  not 
necessary  to  particularize,  but  the  result  of  all  was  that 
though  it  may  have  helped  to  divert  them  from  a  flat  re- 
fusal of  all  supply,  it  did  not  prevent  other  speeches  from 
being  made  which  were  almost  as  fatal  to  harmony  as 
such  a  refusal  would  have  been :  and  though  the  debate 
ended  in  a  resolution  to  send  the  King  a  message  of 
tlianks  and  explanations,  the  accounts  he  heard  of  what 
had  been  said  in  the  course  of  it  satisfied  him  that  there 
was  no  chance  of  agreement  and  that  his  only  course  was 
to  dissolve  the  Parliament.  The  following  letter,  written 
to  Salisbury  from  the  Court  at  Royston  on  the  25th  of 
November,  gives  a  lively  picture  of  the  King's  state  of 
mind,  and  makes  all  that  followed  quite  intelligible  :  — 

"  He  hath  received  by  Sir  Roger  Aston  a  copy  of  the  order 
set  down  against  the  next  meeting  of  the  House;  which  his 
Majesty  doth  collect  into  three  points.  First,  to  give  reasons 
why  they  should  yield  to  no  supply ;  secondly,  to  examine  the 
answers  to  the  grievances,  and  wherein  they  are  not  satisfactory ; 
and  thirdly,  to  consider  what  further  immunities  and  easements 
are  to  be  demanded  for  the  people.  His  Majesty  doth  also  per- 
ceive, both  by  my  Lord  of  Montgomery  and  by  Sir  Roger 
Aston,  that  you  could  wish  that  his  Majesty  and  your  Lord- 
ships might  have  a  meeting  to  consult  of  his  affairs  in  Parlia- 
ment. 

"  To  both  these  his  Majesty  willeth  this  to  be  written  :  — 
"  That  he  maketh  no  doubt  but  that  the  cause  of  your  late 
advice   to   adjourn   the  House  was   for   that  you  foresaw  they 
vould  do  worse  on  Saturday  than  they  had  done  on   Frida\-, 


636  RESOLUTION   TO   DISSOLVE   PARLLA.MEXT.      [Booiv  IV. 

and  how  you  are  now  assured  that  wlien  they  me(;t  again  on 
Thursday  they  will  not  be  in  the  same  mood,  his  Majesty  would 
be  glad  to  know.  For  he  assureth  himself  that  if  your  Lord- 
ships thought  the  House  would  follow  the  same  humor,  you 
would  not  advise  their  meeting.  His  Highness  wisheth  your 
Lordships  to  call  to  miud  that  he  hath  now  had  patience  with 
this  assembly  these  seven  years,  and  from  them  received  more 
disgraces,  censures,  and  ignominies,  than  ever  Prince  did  en- 
dure. He  followed  your  Lordships'  advices  in  having  patience, 
hoping  for  better  issue.  He  cannot  have  asinine  patience ;  he 
is  not  made  of  that  metal  that  is  ever  to  be  held  in  suspense  and 
to  receive  nothing  but  stripes  ;  neither  doth  he  conceive  that 
your  Lordships  are  so  unsensible  of  those  indignities,  as  that 
you  can  advise  any  longer  endurance.  For  his  part  he  is  re- 
solved, though  now  at  their  next  meeting  they  would  give  him 
supply  were  it  never  so  large,  and  sauce  it  with  such  taunts  and 
disgraces  as  have  been  uttered  of  him  and  of  those  tliat  apper- 
tain to  him  (wliich  by  consequence  redound  to  himself),  nay 
though  it  were  another  kingdom,  he  will  not  accept  it. 

''Therefore  touching  the  other  point  of  his  meeting  with  your 
Lordships,  either  by  his  coming  nearer  to  you  or  any  of  your 
coming  to  him,  his  Highness  thug  answereth.  That  no  man 
should  be  more  willing  to  take  pains  than  he,  when  there  is 
hope  of  good  to  come  by  it.  But  as  things  now  stand  in  appear- 
ance, for  him  to  put  either  himself  or  you  to  the  labor  of  an  un- 
pleasant journey  without  likelihood  of  comfort,  but  on  the  con- 
trary when  you  meet  together  to  find  the  pains  of  your  bodies 
aggravated  with  vexation  of  spirit,  or  to  jiart  irresolute  as  at  the 
last  conference  you  dl<l.  —  his  Majesty  doth  not  see  to  what  end 
such  a  meeting  should  be.  But  for  aught  he  sceth  in  his  own 
nridcrstanding,  he  taketh  no  other  subject  of  consultation  to  bo 
Itft,  than  how  the  Parliament  may  end  quietly,  and  he  and  his 
subjects  i)art  with  fairest  show  ;  which  he  conceiveth  must  begin 
with  Kome  new  adjournnicnt  until  Candlemas  terra  or  tlie  end 
tliercof  in  regard  of  the  nearness  of  Cliristnias.  And  in  the 
mean  time  your  Lordsliips  and  he  may  advise  both  how  to  dis- 
Holve  it  in  best  fashion,  and  lull  to  other  ttoiisultation  about  his 
affairs." 


1610-11.]  RESOLUTION   TO  DISSOLVE  PARLIAMENT.  637 

The  rest,  so  far  as  it  concerns  us,  may  be  told  in  the 
words  of  tlie  private  Journal :  — 

"  On  Saturday  the  Speaker  received  a  letter  from  his  Majesty 
Bignifyiug  that  he  had  offered  divers  things  of  grace  for  the 
good  of  his  sulijects,  but  the  more  he  was  desirous  to  give  them 
conteutment,  he  did  perceive  the  less  it  was  regarded,  and  that 
new  grievances  and  complaints  were  raised  to  his  dishonor. 
And  therefore  he  commanded  him  to  adjourn  the  House  and 
all  Committeess  till  Thursday  following.  At  what  time  we 
should  hear  further  from  him. 

"  And  so  accordingly  the  Parliament  was  adjourned,  and 
from  thence  adjourned  by  Commission  to  some  of  the  Lords, 
usque  9  Febr.,  the  King  being  at  Royston." 

These  adjournments  had  been  so  timed  (by  the  care 
of  Salisbury,  I  think,  rather  than  the  King)  as  to  prevent 
the  House  from  doing  any  business  after  the  24th  of 
November,  and  on  the  29th  February  the  Parliament  was 
dissolved.  So  that  Salisbury's  second  project  failed  (as 
might  indeed  have  been  expected)  more  signally  than 
the  first.  And  a  very  great  failure  it  was,  whoever  was 
to  blame  for  it.  That  he  failed  to  get  what  he  first  de- 
manded was  no  great  matter  :  the  demand  was  exorbi- 
tant, and  the  chance  of  winning  (though  small)  might 
have  been  good  enough  to  make  it  worth  the  trial,  if  the 
only  consequence  of  not  winning  had  been  to  go  without 
the  money.  But  that  was  far  from  being  the  case. 
The  long  negotiation  —  opened,  carried  on,  and  broken 
off  as  it  had  been  —  left  the  discontents  of  the  House  of 
Commons  aggravated  and  exasperated  bj^  discussion  and 
disappointment,  and  the  King's  finances  worse  embar- 
rassed than  ever  ;  because  the  notoriety  of  his  necessities 
and  the  utter  failure  of  this  great  effort  to  relieve  them, 
fi'om  which  so  much  had  been  expected,  left  him  not  only 
without  money  but  wdthout  credit.  So  that  the  terms 
on  which  they  j^arted,  though  displeasing  alike  to  both, 
vere  infinitely  to  the  disadvantage  of    the  King.     The 


638  STRAITS  OF  THE  KING  IN  FmANCE.  [Book  IV. 

Commons  had  lost  nothing  ;  nothing  at  least  that  touched 
their  particular  pockets  or  feelings  (for  of  the  general 
evils  of  a  distracted  government  they  came  in  of  course 
for  their  share)  :  in  spite  of  their  unredressed  grievances, 
tliey  could  make  money,  build  houses,  feed  themselves, 
clothe  themselves,  marry  and  give  in  marriage,  as  merrily 
as  ever.  But  the  King  could  not  borrow  X  100,000  of 
the  Aldermen,  to  pay  his  most  pressing  debts  with.  The 
emptiness  of  the  Exchequer,  the  shifts  and  perplexities 
of  the  Lord  Treasurer,  became  the  common  talk  of  the 
ToAvn.  Ambassadors  were  told  that  they  must  wait  for 
their  salaries.  Pensioners  were  forced  to  turn  duns. 
The  Paul's-walkers  entertained  themselves  with  wonder- 
ing how  Salisbury  would  scrape  together  money  enough 
to  provide  the  usual  Christmas  festivities.  And  though 
the  House  of  Commons  had  not  intended  to  try  the 
effect  of  absolutely  refusing  the  supplies,  they  had  now 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  what  the  effect  was. 

Wiiat  Bacon  thought  of  all  this  while  it  was  going  on, 
must  be  loft  to  conjecture  :  except  as  a  reporter  of  other 
men's  s[)eeches,  or  an  occasional  intercessor  to  moderate 
rasli  counsels,  he  appears  to  have  had  no  part  in  it.  Of 
what  he  thought  about  it  afterwards,  and  what  conclu- 
sions he  drew  from  the  history  of  it,  we  shall  hear  a 
good  deal  presently;  and  then  it  will  be  seen  why  I 
thought  it  necessary  to  enter  so  lully  into  the  particulars 
of  a  transaction  with  whicii  he  had  no  little  to  do. 

Tlu!  prorogation  and  subsequent  dissolution  of  the 
Parliament  left  Bacon  with  another  season  before  him  of 
political  inactivity  :  for  while  Salisbury  lived  he  had  no 
room  for  action  beyond  the  ordinary  business  of  his  place, 
exc«!j)t  in  the  Houses  of  Commons ;  nor  much  there, 
except  as  a  supporter  of  measures  wliidi  wen;  not  of  his 
own  jidvising.  'I'o  this  period  we  owe  the  new  essays 
))ul)lisli»Ml  in  1()12  ;  —  an  addition  to  the  vt;ry  small  collefv 
tioM   piiiit<'(l   fifteen  years  before  so  considerable  that  it 


IClO-ll.]  NEW   EDITION   OF   BACON'S   ESSAYS.  639 

may  be  said  to  have  made  the  work  which  was  destined 
to  make  him  the  personal  and  familiar  acquaintance  of  all 
future  venerations  of  Englishmen.  Further  additions  at  a 
later  time  greatly  increased  its  value,  but  its  character 
was  henceforth  established  and  its  immortality  secure. 
The  edition  of  1612,  had  it  been  the  last,  would  undoubt- 
edly have  held  the  same  position  in  literature  which  the 
edition  of  1625  does  now.  To  this  period  also  we  owe 
the  levision  and  collection  of  those  speeches  and  writings 
of  business  which  belong  to  this  division  of  his  works,  and 
represent  the  most  important  part  of  his  active  life.  And 
though  we  have  not  the  means  of  dating  accurately  the 
several  stages  in  the  progress  of  the  "  Great  Instaura- 
tion,"  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  was  one  of  its 
most  fertile  seasons.  The  revelations  of  Galileo's  tele- 
scope—  an  invention  '''■  et  fine  et  aggressu  nohile  quoddam 
et  huwano  genere  dignum  "  —  were  the  fresh  news  of  the 
time,  and  in  the  "  Descriptio  Globi  Intellectualis,"  the 
"  Thema  Croli,"  the  speculation  on  the  ebb  and  flow  of 
the  sea,  and  other  essays  on  the  philosophy  of  the  uni- 
verse, we  may  see  traces  of  the  interest  which  they  had 
excited  in  him. 

Unfortunately  the  same  time  which  promised  to  throw 
so  much  new  light  upon  the  kingdom  of  nature  portended 
much  trouble  to  the  kingdom  of  England.  The  relation 
between  the  Crown  and  the  Commons  as  it  remained 
after  the  dissolution  must  have  been  a  matter  of  great 
anxiety  to  any  one  who  understood  it,  and  foi-esaw  the 
consequences ;  and  must  have  convinced  Bacon,  who 
certainly  did  understand  it  very  clearly,  that  if  ever  he 
had  an  opportunity  of  assisting  in  setting  it  right,  it  was 
in  that  work  that  his  first  duty  now  lay.  A  few  years 
before,  he  had  professed  a  desire  to  withdraw  from  active 
business  of  state  and  devote  himself  to  the  prosecution  of 
the  work  which  he  had  selected  for  himself  in  his  early 
vouth  as  worthiest  in  its  object  and  best  suited  to  liis 


640  BACON'S  POLITICAL   VIEWS.  [Book  IV. 

capacity  ;  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  suppose  that,  at  that 
time,  he  would  not  have  done  so  if  he  could  have  af- 
forded it.  He  would  now,  I  think,  have  qualified  the 
desire  with  an  important  condition,  —  namely,  that  the 
relation  between  the  King  and  the  people  should  be  lirst 
placed  on  a  safer  footing. 

For  the  present  indeed  he  could  do  nothing  towards 
the  remedy.  Salisbury  had  played  his  great  card  and 
lost  the  game ;  and  I  do  not  find  that  he  had  any  other 
device  in  store  which  had  even  a  show  of  being  suffi- 
cient: only  shifts  and  temporary  expedients.  But  he 
held  his  place  ;  and  Bacon  could  only  continue  to  do  as 
he  had  done  before,  —  give  him  such  help  as  he  would 
accept,  and  insinuate  his  readiness  to  give  more.  How 
scanty  the  opportunities  were  which  he  could  take  hold 
of,  may  be  inferred  from  the  small  number  and  unim- 
portant nature  of  the  papers  belonging  to  the  peri()d 
between  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  and  Salisbury's 
death,  which  have  come  down  to  us. 

The  first  of  these  is  a  letter  to  the  King  in  behalf  of 
his  own  particular  fortunes.  The  Speaker  of  the  last 
House  of  Commons,  who  had  always  been  in  confidential 
correspondence  with  Salisbury  and  tlone  his  best  to  help 
th(;  King's  business  through  on  some  critical  occasions, 
liad  been  rewarded  with  tlie  Mastership  of  the  Rolls  ; 
and  Sir  Julius  Cajsar,  another  earnest  and  admiring  ally, 
had  received  a  grant  of  the  reversion  of  the  office.  Bacon, 
who  had  good  reason  to  know  that  if  the  choice  of  an 
Attorney  General  were  left  to  Salisbury,  he  couhl  n(^t 
count  upon  suc(u;eding  to  the  place  himself  in  the  event 
of  a  vacancy,  began  to  fear  that  the  lines  of  his  own 
]iromotion  would  be  all  cut  off;  and  thought  it  prudent 
to  secure  his  cliane(!  l)y  obtaining  directly  from  i\u'.  King 
a  ]iromisf^  of  \]u\  reversion. 

If  I  iini  right  in  (sonnecting  IIk;  appliealinn  with  Iho 
grant  of  the   reversion   of  the  MaHteiship  of  th(^  Rolls  to 


1610-11.]  SUIT  FOR  REVERSION  OF  THE  ATTORNEY'S  PLACE.  G41 

Sir  Julius  Cassar  —  which  was  the  "preferment  of  law" 
most  likely  to  interfere  with  Bacon's  prospects  —  it  must 
have  been  written  early  in  1611. 

TO    THE   KING,    DESIRING   TO    SUCCEED    IN    THE    ATTOR- 
NEY'S PLACE. 

It  may  PLEASE  YOUR  MAJESTY,  —  Your  great  and 
princely  favors  towards  me  in  advancing  me  to  place, 
and  that  which  is  to  me  of  no  less  comfort,  your  Maj- 
esty's benign  and  gracious  acceptation  from  time  to  time 
of  my  poor  services,  much  above  the  merit  and  value  of 
them,  hath  almost  brought  me  to  an  opinion,  that  I  may 
sooner  perchance  be  wanting  to  myself  in  not  asking, 
than  find  your  Majesty's  goodness  wanting  to  me  in  any 
my  reasonable  and  modest  desires.  And  therefore  per- 
ceiving how  at  this  time  preferments  of  the  law  fly  about 
mine  ears,  to  some  above  me  and  to  some  below  me,  I 
did  conceive  your  Majesty  may  think  it  rather  a  kind  of 
dullness,  or  want  of  faith,  than  modesty,  if  I  should  not 
come  with  my  pitcher  to  Jacob's  well,  as  others  do. 
Wherein  I  shall  propound  to  your  Majesty  that  which 
tendeth  not  so  much  to  the  raising  of  my  fortune,  as  to 
the  settling  of  my  mind  :  being  sometimes  assailed  with 
this  cogitation,  that  by  reason  of  my  slowness  to  sue  and 
apprehend  occasions  upon  the  sudden,  keeping  one  plain 
course  of  painful  service,  I  may  in  fine  dierum  be  in  dan- 
ger to  be  neglected  and  forgotten.  And  if  that  should 
be,  then  were  it  much  better  for  me,  now  while  I  stand 
in  your  Majesty's  good  opinion  (though  unworthy),  and 
have  some  little  reputation  in  the  world,  to  give  over  the 
course  I  am  in,  and  to  make  proof  to  do  you  some  honor 
by  my  pen,  either  by  writing  some  faithful  narrative  of 
your  happy  though  not  untraduced  times  ;  or  by  recom- 
piling your  laws,  which  I  perceive  your  INlajesty  labor- 
eth  with  and  hath  in  your  head,  as  Jupiter  had  Pallas ; 
or  some  other  the  like  work  (for  without    -  -v^  endeavor 

VOL.    I.  41 


642  LETTERS  TO  THE  KING.  [Book  IV. 

to  do  you  honor  I  would  not  live) ;  than  to  spend  my 
wits  and  time  in  this  laborious  place  wherein  I  serve,  if 
it  shall  be  deprived  of  those  outward  ornaments  and  in- 
ward comforts  which  it  was  wont  to  have,  in  respect  of 
an  assured  succession  to  some  place  of  more  dignity  and 
rest ;  which  seemeth  to  be  an  hope  now  altogether  casual, 
if  not  wholly  intercepted.  Wherefore,  not  to  hold  your 
Majesty  long,  my  humble  suit  to  you  is  that  which  I 
think  I  should  not  without  suit  be  put  by,  which  is,  that 
I  may  obtain  your  assurance  to  succeed  (if  I  live)  into 
the  Attorney's  place,  whensoever  it  shall  be  void ;  it  be- 
ing but  the  natural  and  immediate  step  and  rise  which 
the  place  I  now  hold  hath  ever  in  a  sort  made  claim  to, 
and  almost  never  failed  of.  In  this  suit  I  make  no  friends 
to  your  Majesty,  though  your  INIajesty  knoweth  that  I 
want  not  those  which  are  near  and  assured,  but  rely  upon 
no  other  motive  than  your  grace  ;  resting  your  M.  most 
humble  subject  and  servant. 

The  King  gave  him,  it  seems,  the  assurance  which  lie 
asked :  for  in  the  course  of  the  following  summer  or  au- 
tumn th(;  Attorney  General  had  a  serious  illness  ;  and 
Bacon  writing  to  the  King  in  acknowledgment  of  some 
favorable  remembrance  of  himself  which  had  been  re- 
ported to  him,  alludes  to  his  "  royal  promise  touching  the 
Attorney's  place."  The  letter  comes  from  his  own  col- 
lection. The  date  I  suppose  to  be  October  or  there- 
abouts ;  for  on  th(>  21st  of  that  month  I  find  John  Murray 
expressing  a  ho))e  that  "  if  Mr.  Attorney's  sickness 
should  not  prrniit  him  to  come  abroad,  "  some  causes  in 
whifh  lie  was  interested  iriight  be;  put  off  till  the  next 
Thursday,  "by  which  time  he  hoped  he  would  be  well." 

A   LETT  Kit  OF  THANKS  TO   THE    KING,    UPON  Mil.  ATTOR- 
ney's sicknes8. 

It  may  i'Eease  youu  most  Excellent  Majesty, — 
I  do  understand  by  some  of  my  good  friends,  to  my  great 


lGlO-11.]  THE  ATTORNEY  GENERAL'S  ILLNESS.  643 

comfDrt,  that  your  Majesty  hath  in  raiiid  your  Majesty's 
royal  promise  (which  to  me  is  ancliora  spei)^  touching 
the  Attorney's  place.  I  hope  Mr.  Attorney  shall  do  well. 
I  thank  God  I  wish  no  man's  death ;  nor  much  mine  own 
life,  more  than  to  do  your  Majesty  service.  For  I  ac- 
count my  life  the  accident,  and  my  duty  the  substance. 
But  this  I  will  be  bold  to  say ;  if  it  please  God  that  I 
ever  sei-ve  your  Majesty  in  the  Attorney's  place,  I  have 
known  an  Attorney  Cooke,  and  an  Attorney  Hubberd, 
both  worthy  men  and  far  above  myself  ;  but  if  I  should 
not  find  a  middle  wa}^  between  their  two  dispositions 
and  carriage,  I  should  not  satisfy  myself.  But  these 
things  are  far  or  near,  as  it  shall  please  God.  Meanwhile 
I  most  humbly  pray  your  Majesty  accept  my  sacrifice  of 
thanksgiving  for  your  gracious  favor.  God  preserve 
your  Majesty.     I  ever  remain  — 

The  following  letter  has  no  date,  but  must  have  been 
written,  I  think,  on  the  1st  of  January  1611-12.  We 
know  that  in  the  autumn  of  1611  the  Attorney  General 
had  an  illness,  serious  enough  to  raise  the  question  who 
should  succeed  him  if  he  did  not  recover.  We  have  seen 
what  Bacon  wrote  to  the  King  on  that  occasion,  and  it  is 
to  be  presumed  that  either  by  letter  or  word  he  made 
some  communication  to  Salisbury.  If  he  received  a  favor- 
able answer, —  and  it  is  not  likely  that  he  received  any 
other,  for  Salisbury  was  seldom  otherwise  than  friendly 
secundum  exterius,  —  this  is  exactl}'-  the  kind  of  letter  he 
might  have  been  expected  to  write  to  him  when  the  sea- 
son of  compliments  came  round.  And  though  we  shall 
see  hereafter  that  there  lay  under  it  a  deep  disapprobation 
of  his  recent  proceedings,  and  even  a  devout  wish  in  the 
interests  of  the  country  that  he  were  out  of  the  way,  it 
was  probably  true  that  as  long  as  he  held  his  place  and 
nothing  could  be  done  without  his  concurrence.  Bacon 
desired  nothing  more  than  to  obtain  influence  with 
him. 


644  LETTER  TO  SALISBURY.  [Book  IV. 

A   LETTER  TO   MY   LORD   TREASURER    SALISBURY,  UPON 
A   NEW   year's    tide. 

It  may  please  youk  good  Lordship,  —  I  would 
intreat  the  new  year  to  answer  for  the  old,  in  my  humble 
tlianks  to  your  Lordship,  both  for  many  your  favors,  and 
chiefly  that  upon  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Attorney's  infirmity 
I  found  your  Lordship  even  as  I  would  wish.  This  doth 
increase  a  desire  in  me  to  express  my  thankful  mind  to 
your  Lordship ;  hoping  that  though  I  find  age  and  decays 
grow  upon  me,  yet  I  may  have  a  flash  or  two  of  spirit 
left  to  do  you  service.  And  I  do  protest  before  God, 
without  compliment  or  any  light  vein  of  mind,  that  if  I 
knew  in  what  course  of  life  to  do  you  best  service,  I 
would  take  it,  and  make  my  thoughts,  which  now  fly  to 
many  pieces,  be  reduced  to  that  centre.  But  all  this  is 
no  more  than  I  am,  which  is  not  much,  but  yet  the  entire 
of  him  that  is  — 

Another  letter  of  friendly  compliment  to  one  whom 
Bacon  had  often  in  former  times  found  a  friend  in  need, 
belongs  to  the  beginning  of  this  new  year,  and  affords  an 
agreeable  proof  that  the  relation  of  borrower  and  lender 
does  not  necessarily  end  in  estrangement.  The  occasion 
must  be  inferred  from  the  letter  itself.  It  is  plain  that 
in  some  emergency,  a  good  while  before,  Bacon  had  bet>n 
obliged  to  borrow  a  pair  of  stockings  from  Lady  Hickea 
or  JK-r  daughter,  and  had  neglected  to  return  them.  He 
takes  adviintage  of  a  new  year's  tide  to  confess  the  fault 
and  repay  the  obligation. 

Tlie  first  sentence  implicis  a  fact  which  it  is  pleasant 
to  know:  for  I  take  it  that  the  debts  which  Bacon  hail 
owed  to  Sir  Michael  Hickes  were  heavy  ones. 

to    MV    very   good    friend   sir    MICHAEL    HICKES, 
KNIGHT. 

Sir   Michael,  —  I  do  use  as  you  know  to  pay  my 


1610-11.]  THE  WILL  OF  THOMAS   SUTTON.  645 

debts  with  time.  But  iiuleed  if  j'ou  will  have  a  good 
and  pavfite  color  in  a  carnation  stocking  it  must  be  long 
in  the  dyeing.  I  have  some  scruple  of  conscience  whether 
it  was  my  Lady's  stockings  or  her  daughter's,  and  I 
would  have  the  restitution  to  be  to  the  right  person,  else 
I  shall  not  have  absolution.  Therefore  I  have  sent  to 
them  both,  desiring  them  to  wear  them  for  my  sake,  as  I 
did  wear  theirs  for  mine  own  sake.  So  wishing  you  all 
a  good  new  year,  I  rest  Yours  assured, 

Fe.  Bacon. 

Grays  Ixn, 

this  8'ii  of  Jan.  1611. 

We  now  come  to  a  paper  for  which  Bacon  must  be  re- 
garded as  altogether  answerable  ;  and  it  is  the  rather  de- 
serving of  attention  because  some  severe  censures  have 
been  passed  upon  him  for  writing  it.  Being  a  purely 
voluntary  performance,  not  in  any  way  connected  with 
the  business  of  his  office,  and  having  been  carefully  pre- 
served among  his  papers  by  himself,  it  may  be  justl}' 
treated  as  an  act  of  his  own  ;  and.  whatever  blame  it 
merits  rests  with  him.  But  I  think  the  censures  have 
been  passed  without  due  attention  to  the  circumstances ; 
of  which  a  sufficient  record  has  fortunately,  though  acci- 
dentally, been  preserved. 

Thomas  Sutton,  having  in  a  long  life  of  various  enter- 
prise amassed  a  great  fortune,  proposed  to  bestow  the 
bulk  of  it  after  his  death  upon  some  great  public  charity, 
for  which  he  had  been  long  engaged  in  making  provision 
and  preparation.  He  died  on  the  12th  of  December, 
1611,  leaving  a  will  of  which  we  have  the  following  con- 
temporary report,  written  a  few  days  after :  — 

•"I  cannot  yet  learn  many  particulars  of  his  will,  but  thus 
much  hath  been  told  me  from  the  mouth  of  auditor  Sutton  one 
of  his  executors,  —  that  he  hath  given  £20,000  ready  money  to 
charitable  uses,  to  be  disposed  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
the  Bishop  of  Ely,  and  the  Bishop  of  London.     He  hath  left 


G4G  THE  WILL  OF  THOMAS   SUTTON.  [Book  IV. 

£8,000  lands  a  year  to  his  college  or  hospital  at  the  Charterhouse 
(which  is  not  bestowed  on  the  Prince,  as  was  given  out),  to  the 
maintenance  of  eight  score  soldiers  [gentlejmen  (?),  who  are  to 
have  pensions  according  to  their  degree,  as  they  have  borne 
places  of  captains,  lieutenants,  or  ancients,  or  the  like.  There 
is  a  school  likewise  for  eight  score  scholars,  with  £100  stipend 
for  the  schoolmaster,  and  other  provision  for  ushers;  with  100 
marks  a  year  wages  for  a  gardener,  to  keep  the  orchard  and 
gardens  in  good  order.  Many  other  legacies  I  hear  of,  which 
you  shall  have  together  if  I  can  get  them.  I  cannot  learn  of 
much  that  he  hath  left  to  his  poor  kindred:  not  above  the  value 
of  £400  a  year." 

So  much  we  may  suppose  Bacon  knew  o£  the  matter  at 
this  time,  —  being  the  news  of  the  day;  and  I  do  not 
know  that  he  had  other  special  means  of  information. 
But  the  will  w^as  not  destined  to  pass  unquestioned.  On 
the  loth  of  January,  1(311-12,  Chamberlain  writes  again : 

"  Rich  Sutton's  will  is  called  in  question,  and  will  come  sub 
judice.  A  certain  tanner,  pretending  to  be  his  heir  at  common 
law,  goes  about  to  overthrow  it,  and  wants  not  abettors.  Ih 
was  called  to  the  council  tabic  on  Sunday  and  there  bound  in 
£100,000  {if  he  do  evict  the  will)  to  stand  to  the  Kin(/s  award 
and  arhitrement." 

Of  this  also  we  may  presume  that  Bacon  was  informed, 
though  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  up  to  this  time 
he  had  anytliing  else  to  do  witli  it.  At  auy  rate  lie  must 
have  known  all  about  it  soon  after,  for  lie  was  one  of  the 
law  oflicers  appointed  by  the  Privy  Council  to  hear  and 
report  upon  the  cause.  And  I  conclude  it  was  at  this 
time,  and  with  a  view  to  the  possible  issue  of  this  pro- 
ceeding, that  he  drew  up  tin*  following  paper  of  advice  to 
the  King:  advic(!  of  which  the  wistloni  may  possibly  be 
disputed,  tliough  I  rather  think  tliat  the  history  of  chari- 
tMbU;  institutions  in  England  would  auj)ply  more}  exam- 
ples in  aj)proval  than  in  disaj)proval  of  it ;  but  which  cer- 
tiiiidy,  as  long  as  he  himself  believed  it  to  be  good,  he 


1610-11.]  ADVICE  CONCERNING   SUTTON'S   ESTATE.  047 

cannot  reasonably  be  censured  for  offering.  Faithful 
alumni  of  the  Charterhouse  may  indeed  be  excused  for 
protesting  vehemently  against  an  argument  which  assails 
the  principles  of  their  foundation,  and  for  finding  Bacon 
guilty  of  an  error  in  judgment.  But  those  who  accuse 
him  of  advising  a  violation  of  the  law  must  surely  have 
overlooked  the  second  paragraph,  in  which  it  is  expressed 
as  distinctly  as  possible  that  the  intentions  of  the  testator 
are  not  to  be  interfered  with  as  long  as  the  bequest  is 
either  held  good  in  law  or  can  be  made  good  by  equity. 
And  his  ideas  concerning  the  conditions  under  which 
charities  of  this  kind  may  be  made  to  do  most  good  may 
still  be  studied  with  advantage. 

ADVICE   TO   THE   KING,   TOUCHING   SUTTON'S   ESTATE. 

May  it  please  your  Majesty,  —  I  find  it  a  posi- 
tive precept  of  the  old  law,  that  there  should  be  no  sac- 
rifice without  salt :  the  moral  whereof  (besides  the  cere- 
mony) may  be,  that  God  is  not  pleased  with  the  body  of 
a  good  intention,  except  it  be  seasoned  with  that  spiritual 
wisdom  and  judgment,  as  it  be  not  easily  subject  to  be 
corrupted  and  perverted  :  for  salt,  in  the  scripture,  is  a 
figure  both  of  wisdom  and  lasting.  This  cometh  into  my 
mind  upon  this  act  of  Mr.  Sutton,  which  seeraeth  to  me 
as  a  sacrifice  without  salt,  having  the  materials  of  a  good 
intention,  but  not  powdered  with  any  such  ordinances 
and  institutions  as  may  preserve  the  same  from  turning 
corrupt,  or  at  least  from  becoming  unsavory  and  of  little 
use.  For  though  the  choice  of  the  feoffees  be  of  the  best, 
yet  neither  they  can  always  live,  and  the  very  nature  of 
the  work  itself,  in  the  vast  and  unfit  proportions  thereof, 
being  apt  to  provoke  a  mis-employment,  it  is  no  diligence 
of  theirs  (except  there  be  a  digression  from  that  model) 
that  can  excuse  it  from  running  the  same  w^ay  that  gifts 
of  like  condition  have  lieretofore  done.  For  to  design  the 
Charterhouse,  a  building  fit  for  a  Prince's  habitation,  for 


648  ADVICE  CONCERNING  SUTTON'S  ESTATE.     [Book  IV. 

an  hospital,  is  all  one  as  if  one  should  give  in  alms  a  rich 
embroidered  cloak  to  a  beggar ;  and  certainly  a  man  may 
see,  tanquam  quce  oculis  cernuntur,  that  if  such  an  edifice, 
with  six  thousand  pounds  revenue,  be  erected  into  one 
hospital,  it  will  in  small  time  degenei'ate  to  be  made  a 
preferment  of  some  great  person  to  be  master,  and  he  to 
take  all  the  sweet,  and  the  poor  to  be  stinted,  and  take 
but  the  crumbs ;  as  it  comes  to  pass  in  divers  hospitals  of 
this  realm,  which  have  but  the  names  of  hospitals,  and 
are  but  wealthy  benefices  in  respect  of  the  mastership  ; 
but  the  poor,  which  is  the  propter  quid^  little  relieved. 
And  the  like  hath  been  the  fortune  of  much  of  the  alms 
of  the  Roman  religion  in  their  great  foundations,  whi^^h 
being  begun  in  vain  glory-  and  ostentation,  have  had  their 
judgment  upon  them  to  end  in  corruption  and  abuse. 
This  meditation  hath  made  me  presume  to  write  these 
few  lines  to  your  Majesty  ;  being  no  better  than  good 
wishes,  which  your  Majesty's  great  wisdom  may  make 
somethinfj  or  nothintr  of. 

Wherein  I  desire  to  be  thus  understood,  that  if  this 
foundation  (such  as  it  is)  be  perfect  and  good  in  law, 
th(M\  I  am  too  well  acquainted  with  your  Majesty's  dis- 
position to  advise  any  course  of  power  or  profit  that  is 
not  grounded  upon  a  right :  nay  further,  if  the  defects 
be  such  as  a  court  of  equity  may  remedy  and  cure,  then 
I  wish  that  as  St.  Pettn-'s  shadow  did  cure  diseases,  so 
the  very  shadow  of  a  good  iMtcntion  may  cure  defects  of 
that  nature.  Hut  if  there  be  a  right  and  birthright 
piantt'd  in  the  heir,  and  not  remediable  by  courts  of 
equity,  and  that  right  be  submitted  to  your  Majesty, 
whereby  it  is  both  in  your  power  and  grace  what  to  do  ; 
tlicii  I  do  wish  tliat  this  ru(l(^  mass  and  chaos  of  a  good 
liccd  were  directed  rather  to  a  solid  merit  and  durable 
charity  than  to  a  bla/t;  of  glory,  that  will  but  crackle  a 
littl«!  in  talk  arul  <|uicklv  extinjxuish. 

And  til  is  nuiy  be  done,  observing  the  species  of  Mr. 


1610-11.]  ADVICE  CONCERNING  SUTTON'S  ESTATE.  649 

Sutton's  intent,  though  varying  in  individuo.  For  it  ap- 
pears that  he  had  in  notion  a  triple  good ;  an  hospital, 
and  a  school,  and  maintaining  of  a  preacher :  which  indi- 
viduals resort  to  these  three  general  heads ;  relief  of  poor, 
advancement  of  learning,  and  propagation  of  religion. 
Now  then  if  I  shall  set  before  your  Majesty,  in  every  of 
these  three  kinds,  what  it  is  that  is  most  wanting  in  your 
kingdom,  and  what  is  like  to  be  the  most  fruitful  and 
effectual  use  of  such  a  beneficence,  and  least  like  to  be 
perverted  ;  that,  I  think,  shall  be  no  ill  scope  of  my  labor, 
how  meanly  soever  performed  ;  for  out  of  variety  repre- 
sented, election  may  be  best  grounded. 

Concerning  the  relief  of  the  poor,  I  hold  some  number 
of  hospitals  with  competent  endowments  will  do  far  more 
good  than  one  hospital  of  an  exorbitant  greatness.  For 
though  the  one  course  will  be  the  more  seen,  yet  the 
other  will  be  the  more  felt.  For  if  your  Majesty  erect 
many,  besides  the  observing  the  ordinary  maxim,  Bonum 
quo  communius  eo  melius,  choice  may  be  made  of  those 
towns  and  places  wliere  there  is  most  need,  and  so  the 
remedy  may  be  distributed  as  the  disease  is  dispersed. 
Again,  greatness  of  relief  accumulate  in  one  place  doth 
rather  invite  a  swarm  and  surcharge  of  poor,  than  relieve 
those  that  are  naturally  bred  in  that  place  ;  like  to  ill- 
tempered  medicines,  that  draw  more  humor  to  the  part 
than  they  evacuate  from  it.  But  cliiefly  I  rely  upon  the 
reason  that  I  touched  in  the  beginning ;  that  in  these 
great  hospitals  the  revenues  will  draw  the  use,  and  not 
the  use  the  revenues ;  and  so  through  the  mass  of  their 
wealth  they  will  swiftly  tumble  down  to  a  mis-employ- 
ment. And  if  any  man  say  that  in  the  two  hospitals  in 
London  there  is  a  precedent  of  greatness  concurring  with 
good  employment,  let  him  consider  that  those  ho.spitals 
have  annual  governors  ;  that  they  are  under  the  superior 
care  and  policy  of  such  a  state  as  the  city  of  London  ; 
and  chiefly,  that  their  revenues  consist  not  upon  certain- 


650  ADVICE  CONCERNING  SUTTON'S  ESTATE.      [Booic  IV. 

ties,  but  upon  casualties  and  free  gifts,  which  gifts  would 
be  withheld  if  they  appeared  once  to  be  perverted  ;  so  as 
it  keepeth  them  in  a  continual  good  behavior  and  awe  to 
employ  them  aright;  none  of  which  points  do  match  with 
the  present  case. 

Tlie  next  consideration  may  be,  whether  this  intended 
hospital,  as  it  hath  a  more  ample  endowment  than  other 
hospitals,  should  not  likewise  work  upon  a  better  subject 
than  other  poor  ;  as  that  it  should  be  converted  to  the 
relief  of  maimed  soldiers,  decayed  merchants  and  house- 
holders, aged  and  destitute  churchmen,  and  the  like  ; 
whose  condition,  being  of  a  better  sort  than  loose  people. 
and  beggars,  deserveth  both  a  more  liberal  stipend  and 
allowance,  and  some  proper  place  of  relief,  not  inter- 
mingled or  coupled  with  the  basest  sort  of  poor.  Which 
project,  though  specious,  yet  in  my  judgment  will  not  an- 
swer the  designment  in  the  event,  in  these  our  times. 
For  certainly  few  men  in  any  vocation,  which  have  been 
somebody,  and  bear  a  mind  somewhat  according  to  the 
conscience  and  remembrance  of  that  they  have  been, 
will  ever  descend  to  that  condition  as  to  profess  to  live 
upon  alms,  and  to  become  a  corporation  of  declared  beg- 
gars ;  but  rather  will  choose  to  live  obscurely,  and  as 
it  were  to  hide  themselves  with  some  private  friends:  so 
that  the  end  will  be  of  such  an  institution,  that  it  will 
make  the  place  a  receptacle  of  the  worst,  idlest,  and 
most  dissolute  persons  of  every  profession,  and  to  become 
a  (;ell  of  loiterers,  and  cast  serving-mcm,  and  drunkards, 
with  scandal  ratluM-  than  fruit  to  the  comnionwealth. 
Ami  of  this  kiml  I  ciin  find  hut  one  example  with  us, 
which  is  the  iilms  knights  of  Windsor;  which  particular 
would  giv(^  ;i  Miiui  siiiull  enc^ouragement  to  follow  that 
precedent. 

Th'Tefori'.  th(!  licst  (!lVect  of  hospitals  is  to  make  the 
kingdom  if  it  were  possible  capable  of  that  law,  thdt  tlwre 
he  no  hef/fjar  in  Israel:  for  it  is  that  kiml  of  people   that 


1610-11.]         ADVICE  CONCERNING  SUTTON'S  ESTATE.  G51 

is  a  burden,  an  eye-sore,  a  scandal,  and  a  seed  of  peril 
and  tumult  in  a  state.  Bat  chiefly  it  were  to  be  wished 
such  a  beneficence  towards  the  relief  of  poor  were  so 
bestowed,  as  not  only  the  mere  and  naked  poor  should 
be  sustained,  but  also  that  the  honest  person  which  hath 
hard  means  to  live,  upon  whom  the  poor  are  now  charged, 
should  be  in  some  sort  eased :  for  that  were  a  work  gen- 
erally acceptable  to  the  kingdom,  if  the  public  hand  of 
alms  might  spare  the  private  hand  of  tax  :  and  therefore 
of  all  other  employments  of  that  kind  I  commend  most 
houses  of  relief  and  correction  which  are  mixt  hospitals, 
where  the  impotent  person  is  relieved,  and  the  sturdy 
beggar  buckled  to  work,  and  the  unable  person  also  not 
maintained  to  be  idle,  which  is  ever  joined  with  drunken- 
ness and  impurity,  but  is  sorted  with  such  work  as  he  can 
manage  and  perform,  and  where  the  uses  are  not  distin- 
guished, as  in  other  hospitals,  whereof  some  are  for  aged 
and  impotent,  and  some  for  children,  and  some  for  cor- 
rection of  vagabonds,  but  are  general  and  promiscuous, 
that  may  take  off  poor  of  every  sort  from  the  countr}"- 
as  the  country  breeds  them.  And  thus  the  poor  them- 
selves shall  find  the  pi-ovision,  and  other  good  people  the 
sweetness  of  the  abatement  of  the  tax.  Now  if  it  be  ob- 
jected that  houses  of  correction  in  all  places  have  not 
done  the  good  expected  (as  it  cannot  be  denied  but  in 
most  places  they  have  done  much  good),  it  must  be  re- 
membered th;it  there  is  a  great  difference  between  that 
which  is  done  by  the  distracted  government  of  justices  of 
peace,  and  that  which  may  be  done  by  a  settled  ordi- 
nance, subject  to  a  regular  visitation,  as  this  may  be  ; 
and  besides  the  want  hath  been  commonly  in  houses  of 
correction  of  a  competent  and  certain  stock  for  the  ma- 
terials of  the  labor,  which  in  this  case  may  be  likewise 
supplied. 

Concerning  the   advancement  of   Learning,  T  do  sub- 
scribe to  the  opinion  of  one  of  the  wisest  and  greatest 


652  ADVICE  CONCERNING  SUTTON'S  ESTATE.     [Book  IV. 

men  of  your  kingdom :  That  for  grammar  schools  there 
are  already  too  many,  and  therefore  no  providence  to  add 
where  tliere  is  excess.  For  the  great  number  of  schools 
which  are  in  your  Highness  realm,  doth  cause  a  want 
and  doth  cause  likewise  an  overflow,  both  of  them  in- 
convenient, and  one  of  them  dangerous.  For  by  means 
thereof  they  find  want  in  the  country  and  towns,  both 
of  servants  for  husbandrj^,  and  apprentices  for  trade  ; 
and  on  the  other  side  there  being  more  scholars  bred 
than  the  state  can  prefer  and  employ,  and  the  active 
part  of  that  life  not  bearing  a  proportion  to  the  prepara- 
tive, it  must  needs  fall  out  that  many  persons  will  be 
bred  unfit  for  other  vocations,  and  unprofitable  for  that 
in  which  they  are  brought  up ;  which  fills  the  realm  full 
of  indigent,  idle,  and  wanton  people,  which  are  but  mate- 
ria rerum   novarum. 

Therefore,  in  this  point,  I  wish  Mr,  Sutton's  intention 
were  exalted  a  degree,  that  that  which  he  meant  for 
teachers  of  children,  your  Majesty  should  make  for 
teachers  of  men.  Wherein  it  hath  been  my  ancient 
opinion  and  observation,  that  in  the  universities  of  this 
realm  (which  I  take  to  be  of  the  best  endowed  universi- 
ties of  Europe)  there  is  nothing  more  wanting  towards 
tJK-  nourishing  state  of  learning  than  the  honorable  and 
plt'iitifid  salaries  of  readers  in  arts  and  professions.  In 
which  point,  as  your  Majesty's  bounty  already  hath 
mad(;  a  beginning,  so  this  occasion  is  offered  of  God  to 
make  a  proceeding.  Surely  readers  in  the  chair  are  as 
th<!  ParnitH  in  sciences,  and  deserve  to  (Mijoy  a  condition 
not  inf(;ri()r  to  their  childi-en  that  embrace  the  practical 
part;  else  no  man  will  sit  longer  in  the  chair  than  till 
he  can  walk  to  a  better  preferment :  and  it  will  come  to 
pa.s8  as  Virgil  says, 

I'l  patriini  iiiviiliili  refcrant  ji'juiiia  nati. 

For  it  till-  |)iiiici|):il  readers  through  tlu;  meanness  of  their 
enterl:iiiini'  lit    In-   Imt    men   of   superficial  learning,  and 


1610-11.]        ADVICE  CONCERNING  SUTTON'S  ESTATE.  653 

that  they  shall  take  their  place  but  in  passage,  it  will 
make  the  mass  of  sciences  want  the  chief  and  solid  dimen- 
sion, which  is  depth  ;  and  to  become  but  pretty  and  com- 
pendious habits  of  practice.  Therefore  I  could  wish  that 
in  both  the  universities,  the  lectures  as  well  of  the  three 
professions.  Divinity,  Law,  and  Physic,  as  of  the  three 
lieads  of  science.  Philosophy,  arts  of  speech,  and  the 
Mathematics,  were  raised  in  their  pensions  unto  <£100 
per  annum  apiece.  Which  though  it  be  not  near  so  great 
as  they  are  in  some  other  places,  where  the  greatness  of 
the  reward  doth  whistle  for  the  ablest  men  out  of  all 
foreign  parts  to  supply  the  chair,  yet  it  may  be  a  portion 
to  content  a  worthy  and  able  man,  if  he  be  likewise  con- 
temj)lative  in  nature,  as  those  spirits  are  that  are  fittest 
for  lectures.  Thus  may  learning  in  your  kingdom  be  ad- 
vanced to  a  further  height ;  learning  (I  say)  which  under 
your  Majesty,  the  most  learned  of  kings,  ma}^  claim  some 
degree  of  elevation. 

Concerning  propagation  of  Religion,  I  shall  in  few 
words  set  before  your  Majesty  three  propositions  ;  none 
of  them  devices  of  mine  own,  otherwise  than  that  I  ever 
approved  them  ;  two  of  which  have  been  in  agitation  of 
speech  and  the  third  acted. 

The  first  a  college  for  controversies,  whereby  we  shall 
not  still  proceed  single,  but  shall  as  it  were  double  our 
files,  which  certainly  will  be  found  in  the  encounter. 

The  second  a  receipt  for  (I  like  not  the  word  Seminary 
in  respect  of  the  vain  vows  and  implicit  obedience  and 
other  things  tending  to  the  perturbation  of  states  involved 
in  that  term)  converts  to  the  reformed  religion,  either  of 
youth  or  otherwise.  For  I  doubt  not  but  there  are  in 
Spain,  Italy,  and  other  countries  of  the  Papists,  many 
whose  hearts  are  touched  with  a  sense  of  those  coi-rup- 
tions  and  an  acknowledgment  of  a  better  way ;  which 
grace  is  many  times  smothered  and  choked  through  a 
wordly    consideration    of  necessity ;    men    not    knowing 


Qo-i  ADVICE  CONCERNING  SUTTON'S  ESTATE.      [Book  IV. 

where  to  have  succor  and  refuge.  This  likewise  I  hold  a 
work  of  great  piety  and  a  work  of  great  consequence, 
that  we  also  may  be  wise  in  our  generation,  and  that  the 
watchful  and  silent  night  may  be  used  as  well  for  sow- 
ing of  good  seed  as  of  tares. 

The  third  is,  the  imitation  of  a  memorable  and  relig- 
ious act  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  who,  finding  a  part  of  Lan- 
cashire to  be  extremely  backward  in  religion,  and  the 
benefices  swallowed  up  in  impropriations,  did  by  decree 
in  the  Duchy  erect  four  stipenols  of  XlOO  per  annum 
apiece,  for  preachers  well  chosen  to  help  the  harvest, 
which  have  done  a  great  deal  of  good  in  the  parts  where 
they  have  labored  ;  neither  do  there  want  other  corners 
in  the  realm  that  would  require  for  a  time  the  like  ex- 
traordinary help. 

Thus  have  I  briefly  delivered  unto  your  Majesty  my 
opinion  touching  the  employment  of  this  charity  ;  whereby 
that  mass  of  wealth,  that  was  in  the  owner  little  better 
than  a  stack  or  heap  of  muck,  may  be  spread  over  your 
kingdom  to  many  fruitful  purposes,  your  Majesty  plant- 
ing and  watering,  and  God  giving  the  increase. 

The  legal  question  was  tried  afterward  in  1613  before 
all  the  Judges  in  the  Exchequer  ;  and  Bacon  appeared 
as  counsel  for  the  pretended  heir.  But  that  was  only  in 
the  ordinary  practice  of  his  profession  :  and  judgment 
being  given  in  favor  of  the  will,  the  advice  (whatever  the 
King  thought  of  it)  of  course  fell  to  the  ground,  there 
being  no  opportunity  to  act  upon  it. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A.  D.  1612-1613.     .ETAT.  52-53. 

The  consultation  about  the  King's  affairs  which  was 
to  succeed  the  dissolution  of  the  last  Parliament  had  not 
thus  far  brought  forth  much  fruit.  Neither  the  raising 
of  the  price  of  gold  pieces,  nor  the  erection  of  the  new 
order  of  Baronets,  can  have  afforded  any  material  relief 
to  the  Exchequer ;  for  the  first  did  not  involve  a  fresh 
coinage,  and  the  fruits  of  the  other  were  appropriated  to 
the  colonization  of  Ulster.  Privy  seals  and  loans  from 
the  City  were  merely  borrowings  for  the  present  at  the 
expense  of  the  future  :  and  the  total  result  of  Salisbury's 
financial  administration  appears  to  have  been  the  halving 
of  the  debt  at  the  cost  of  almost  doubling  the  deficiency. 
He  died  on  the  24th  of  May,  after  a  few  months'  illness, 
leaving  the  debt  ,£500,000  and  the  ordinary  annual  ex- 
penditure in  excess  of  the  ordinary  annual  revenue  by 
X160,000. 

Bacon  felt  that  the  occasion  was  a  critical  one.  It  was 
plain  that  everything  had  been  going  wrong  of  late.  But 
Salisbury  had  had  so  much  to  do  with  everything,  that 
Jiis  death,  which  though  not  sudden  had  been  preceded 
bv  no  retirement  from  business  or  transfer  of  power  to 
other  hands,  left  a  large  space  clear  for  a  thorough  re-ar- 
i-angement.  The  place  of  Secretary  as  well  as  Treasurer 
was  now  vacant ;  and  there  was  no  man  (with  the  ex- 
ception perhaps  of  Coke  on  the  Bench)  whose  personal 
qualities,  combined  with  his  position,  gave  him  an  over- 
ruling  power   even    in    his    own   department.      But   this 


656        STATE  OF   AFFAIRS   AT  SALISBURY'S  DEATH.     [Book  IV 

State  of  things  could  not  be  expected  to  last  long.  The 
new  streams  would  soon  find  new  channels  from  which  it 
would  again  be  difficult  to  divert  them.  To  rectify  the 
relation  between  the  King  and  his  people,  which  the  dis- 
solution of  the  late  Parliament  bad  left  quite  out  of  joint, 
it  was  necessary  to  have  another  Parliament  with  which 
he  could  proceed  in  harmony.  And  to  make  this  pos- 
sihle,  it  was  necessary  not  only  that  he  should  present 
himsi'lf  in  a  new  character  to  his  subjects,  but  that  they 
shoidd  feel  that  the  new  character  was  his  own,  and  that 
that  in  which  he  had  last  appeared  was  not  his  own.  If 
he  could  but  have  been  persuaded,  and  been  able,  to 
seize  the  moment  of  Salisbury's  death  for  an  entire 
ciiange  in  his  own  ways, —  if  he  could  from  that  moment 
have  laid  his  former  character  aside  and  shown  himself  a 
new  man,  —  he  might  I  think  have  succeeded.  It  would 
have  been  thought  that  his  true  nature  had  been  obscured 
till  then  by  his  minister,  and  appeared  now  in  its  natural 
lustre.  Nor  is  it  impossible  that  a  successful  experiment 
of  that  kind  might  really  and  permanently  have  changed 
him.  For  certainly  his  untaught  sympathies  and  natural 
impulses  were  always  with  the  people  and  human  nature, 
and  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  if  he  had  once  tried  the 
experiment  of  wearing  his  prerogative  a  little  more  care- 
lessly, he  would  have  found  it  so  much  nun-e  ct)mfortable 
and  becoming  that  he  would  have  continued  the  fashion. 
But  if  this  was  to  be  done,  it  must  be  done  suddenly.  It 
is  in  times  of  change  that  ncnv  impressions  are  wrought 
in  so  as  to  last :  when  they  have  b(;en  allowed  to  settle, 
the  new  will  hardly  incorporate  with  the  old. 

Now  thercifore  was  the  time:  and  now  once  more  Bacon 
was  temp((!d  to  step  out  of  his  course.  Ilitluu'to  the  very 
few  (and  I  hopc^  I  mny  now  say  tiie  very  modest)  appli- 
(•ations  whirh  he  hacl  made  to  tlu^  Kin<r  on  his  own  bcihalf 
had  been  merely  for  ordinary  advanceuK'nt  .in  the  regidar 
foiirsc  of  his   pnifcssion.      But   np^n   Sali.sl)ury"s  death  it 


1612-13.]     STATE  OF  AFFAIRS  AT  SALISBURY'S   DEATH.  657 

could  not  but  occur  to  him  that  the  King  might  have 
much  more  important  use  of  him  as  a  councillor  of  State 
than  merely  as  a  State  lawyer.  The  King  had  in  fact  to 
choose  a  new  prime  minister  ;  which  in  this  case  was  al- 
most as  much  as  forming  a  new  administration.  Whom 
had  he  to  choose  from  ?  He  had  in  his  Council  the  Lord 
Chancellor  ;  a  man  bred  under  Elizabeth,  but  now  nearly 
worn  out,  chiefly  occupied  with  the  business  of  his  Court, 
and  never  much  of  a  politician.  He  had  the  Earl  of 
Northampton  ;  a  man  in  high  repute  for  learning  and 
talent,  especially  as  a  writer  (being  indeed  a  great  artist 
with  his  pen  according  to  the  fashionable  taste  of  the 
day),  but  unpopular,  from  a  suspected  leaning  to  Popery, 
and  not  a  man  of  any  real  judgment  or  ability  (so  far  as 
I  can  make  him  out),  nor  patriotic  in  his  ends,  nor  scru- 
pulous in  his  methods  of  pursuing  them.  He  had  Robert 
Carre,  now  Lord  Rochester;  an  inexperienced  and  unin- 
structed  youth,  given  to  pleasure,  greedy  of  gain,  intoxi- 
cated by  his  sudden  elevation,  disliked  by  the  people  be- 
cause he  was  a  Scotchman  and  getting  all  the  good  things, 
and  having  an  interest  in  the  King's  affections  which  gave 
him  an  influence  over  his  counsels  greater  probably  than 
the  King  was  aware  of.  He  had  the  Earl  of  Suffolk  ;  a 
great  courtier,  and  a  magnificent  sort  of  person,  but  of 
whose  ideas  (if  he  had  any)  we  know  nothing.  The  rest 
were  either  instruments,  or  ciphers,  or  quiet  people  who 
minded  only  their  own  business  and  did  not  affect  to  in- 
terfere with  the  management  of  the  State.  By  far  the 
best  head  (I  take  it)  in  James's  Council  was  his  own : 
and  a  very  sufficient  head  it  would  have  been  if  it  had 
been  applied  steadily  to  its  work.  But  he  was  far  too 
easy  a  master  both  to  himself  and  to  those  about  him. 
He  was  forever  excusing  himself  from  followdng  his  own 
judgment  —  from  doing  what  he  would  have  advised  any 
one  else  to  do  in  the  same  situation  —  when  it  was  op- 
posed by  his  favorites  or  disagreeable  to  himself ;  and  on 
VOL.  1.  42 


658        STATE  OF  AFFAIRS  AT  SALISBURY'S  DEATH.     [Book  IV. 

that  account,  in  such  times  as  he  had  fallen  upon,  —  with 
a  debt  of  .£500,000,  an  annual  deficiency  of  £160,000, 
and  a  House  of  Commons  newly  awakened  to  a  sense  as 
well  of  his  necessities  as  of  their  own  powers,  and  deter- 
mined to  make  the  most  of  their  advantage,  —  he  was  no 
fit  man  to  be  his  own  prime  minister. 

What  course  Bacon  actually  took  in  this  exigency,  I 
cannot  certainly  say  :  for  in  a  matter  which  requires  del- 
icate walking  a  man  will  sometimes  draw  up  a  letter  in 
due  form  by  way  of  experiment,  to  see  how  it  looks  on 
paper,  and  keep  it  back  if  he  does  not  like  the  look  of  it : 
but  the  course  he  meditated  and  wished  to  take  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  letters,  —  two  of  them  cer- 
tainly written  at  this  time,  and  the  third  probably  not 
long  after,  —  and  all  found  among  the  drafts  and  copies 
preserved  in  his  own  cabinet.  That  none  of  the  three 
was  included  in  his  "  register-book  of  letters,"  may  be 
sufficiently  explained  perhaps  by  their  private  and  confi- 
dential character,  without  supposing  that  they  were  ulti- 
mately withheld.  And  if  they  ivere  withheld,  it  may 
have  been  only  because  he  had  had  an  opportunity  in  the 
mean  time  of  speaking  to  the  King  in  private;  which  it 
would  appear  from  one  of  the  "  apophthegms  "  that  he 
really  had  upon  this  very  occasion.  But  however  that 
may  be,  his  private  thoughts  and  intentions  are  what  we 
are  chiefly  concerned  with,  and  of  tliese  they  afford  the 
best  evidence. 

The  first  is  evidently  tlie  beginning  of  a  letter,  with 
the  progress  of  which  he  was  so  ill  satisfied  that  he  laid 
it  by  iind  began  another.  It  is  a  rough  draft,  written  in 
his  <j\vn  liand  and  partly  in  Greek  characters  —  g,  precau- 
ti«)ii  wliich  he  took  occasionally  when  he  wished  to  keep 
a  writing  more  private;  and  has  the  following  docket, 
also  in  liis  own  hand. 


X612-13.]  LETTERS  TO  THE  KING  UPON  SALISBURY'S  DEATH.  6  "■  > 

THE    BEGINNING   OF   A   LETTER   TO   THE   KING   IMIMEDI- 
ATELY    AFTER    MY    LORD   TREASURER'S    DECEASE. 

May  29,  1612. 

It  may  please  your  Majesty, —  If  I  shall  seem  in 
these  few  lines  to  write  majora  quam  pro  fortuna,  it  may 
please  your  Majesty  to  take  it  to  be  an  effect  not  of  pre- 
sumption but  of  affection.  For  of  the  one  I  was  never 
noted  ;  and  for  the  other  I  could  never  show  it  hitherto 
to  the  full ;  having  been  as  a  hawk  tied  to  another's  fist, 
that  mought  sometimes  bait  and  proffer  but  could  never 
fly.  And  therefore  if,  as  it  was  said  to  one  that  spake 
great  words,  Amice,  verba  tua  desiderant  civitatem,  so 
your  Majesty  say  to  me,  "  Bacon,  your  words  require  a 
place  to  speak  them  ;  "  I  must  answer,  that  place  or  not 
place  is  in  your  Majesty  to  add  or  refrain  :  and  though 
I  never  go  higher  but  to  Heaven,  yet  your  Majesty 

The  next  is  probably  the  letter  which  he  substituted  ; 
and  either  sent,  or  wrote  with  the  intention  of  sending. 
Whether  sent  or  not,  it  is  one  of  the  most  important  in 
the  collection  ;  for  it  proves  unquestionably  that  the  only 
remedy  for  the  King's  difficulties  which  Bacon  would  at 
this  time  have  advised  him  to  seek  was  to  be  sought 
through  Parliament. 

This  is  only  a  copy  ;  but  it  is  a  contemporary  copy, 
made  by  one  of  his  own  scribes.  .  It  has  no  flyleaf :  and 
the  indorsement,  which  is  in  a  comparatively  modern 
hand,  was  probably  copied  from  the  original  docket.  It 
runs  thus  :  — 

31    MAY  :    LETTER   TO   THE   KING,    IMMEDIATELY   AFTER 
THE   LORD  treasurer's   DEATH. 

It  MAY  please  your  excellent  Majesty,  —  I  can- 
not but  endeavor  to  merit,  considering  your  preventing 
graces,  which  is  the  occasion  of  these  few  lines. 


660  LETTER  TO  THE  KING  UPON  SALISBURY'S  DEATH.  [Book  IV. 

Your  Majesty  hath  lost  a  great  subject  and  a  great 
servant.  But  if  I  should  praise  him  in  propriety,  I 
should  say  that  he  was  a  fit  man  to  keep  things  from 
growing  worse  but  no  very  fit  man  to  reduce  things  to  be 
much  better.  For  he  loved  to  have  the  eyes  of  all  Israel 
a  little  too  much  upon  himself,  and  to  have  all  business 
still  under  the  hammer  and  like  clay  in  the  hands  of  the 
potter,  to  mould  it  as  he  thought  good ;  so  that  he  way 
more  in  operatione  than  in  opere.  And  though  he  had 
fine  passages  of  action,  yet  the  real  conclusions  came 
slowly  on.  So  that  although  your  Majesty  hath  grave 
counsellors  and  worthy  persons  left,  yet  you  do  as  it  were 
turn  a  leaf,  wherein  if  your  Majesty  shall  give  a  frame 
and  constitution  to  matters,  before  you  place  the  persons, 
in  my  simple  opinion  it  were  not  amiss.  But  the  great 
matter  and  most  instant  for  the  present,  is  the  consider- 
ation of  a  Parliament,  for  two  effects :  the  one  for  the 
supply  of  your  estate  ;  the  other  for  the  better  knitting 
of  the  hearts  of  your  subjects  unto  your  Majesty,  accord- 
ing to  your  infinite  merit ;  for  both  which.  Parliaments 
have  been  and  are  the  antient  and  honorable  remedy. 

Now  because  I  take  myself  to  have  a  little  skill  in  that 
region,  as  one  that  ever  affected  that  your  Majesty 
mought  in  all  your  causes  not  only  prevail,  but  prevail 
with  satisfaction  of  the  inner  man  ;  and  though  no  man 
can  say  but  I  was  a  perfect  and  peremptory  royalist,  yet 
every  man  makes  me  believe  that  I  was  never  one  hour 
out  of  credit  with  the  lower  house  :  my  desire  is  to  know 
whether  your  Majesty  will  give  me  leave  to  meditate 
and  propound  unto  you  som*;  preparative  remembrances 
touching  the  future  Parliament. 

Your  Majesty  may  tiuly  perceive,  that,  though  I  can- 
not cjiallenge  to  myself  either  invention,  or  judgment,  or 
elocution,  or  nu'thod,  or  any  of  those  poweis,  yet  my 
otT<;ring  is  ciin;  aufl  observance:  and  as  my  good  old  mis- 
tress waa  wont  to  <'all   nie  her  watch-candle,  because  it 


1612-13.]   BACON  WISHES  TO  BE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE.   661 

pleased  her  to  say  I  did  continually  bum  (and  yet  she 
suffered  me  to  waste  almost  to  nothing),  so  I  must  much 
more  owe  the  like  duty  to  your  Majesty,  by  whom  my 
fortunes  have  been  settled  and  raised.  And  so  craving 
pardon,  I  rest 

Your  Majesty's  most  humble  servant  devote, 

F.  B. 

The  exact  date  of  the  third  is  uncertain.  It  is  a 
rough  draft  in  Bacon's  own  handwriting,  and  whether  it 
ever  proceeded  further  we  have  no  means  of  knowing : 
for  it  is  quite  exceptional,  and  points  to  a  project  to 
which  I  have  found  no  other  allusion  anywhere.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  it  was  only  a  thought  which  perished 
in  the  setting  down.  But  the  meaning  cannot  be  mis- 
taken, and  the  date  cannot  be  far  removed  from  where 
we  now  are. 

As  the  only  remedy  for  the  King's  affairs  was  to  be 
sought  from  Parliament,  so  his  principal  difficulty  lay  in 
the  Lower  House.  Salisbury  had  had  long  experience 
as  a  member  of  the  Commons  before  he  was  raised  t  j 
the  Peerage,  and  had  a  party  there  of  personal  adherents 
afterwards.  Yet  even  in  his  time  the  Government  was 
but  weakly  represented.  "  I  must  tell  you,"  writes  Sir 
Edward  Hoby  to  Sir  Thomas  Edmunds,  7  March,  160.5-6, 
"  that  I  think  the  State  scorneth  to  have  any  privy  coun- 
sellors of  any  understanding  in  that  house."  And  after 
Salisbury's  death  it  would  be  difficult  to  name  any  mem- 
ber either  of  the  Council  or  of  Parliament  whose  position 
in  the  government  combined  with  his  personal  weight 
would  have  enabled  him  to  conduct  the  Government  busi- 
ness in  the  Lower  House  with  effect.  I  suppose  Sir 
Julius  Caesar  would  have  been  considered  the  highest 
representative  of  the  Council  in  the  last  house,  but  he 
does  not  appear  to  have  had  any  personal  influence  in 
debate.     What  was  wanted  was  some  man  who  could  fill 


662       BACON  WISHES  TO  BE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE.    [Booic  IV. 

the  position  which  Salisbury  had  filled  in  Elizabeth's  two 
last  Parliaments  :  —  a  principal  secretary  of  state,  quali- 
fied to  lead  the  Lower  House.  And  though,  among  the 
many  candidates  for  the  vacant  secretaryship,  there  was 
more  than  one  who  might  have  done  well  enough,  the 
diSiculties  of  one  kind  or  another  in  the  choice  were  so 
great,  that  the  appointment  remained  still,  and  seemed 
likely  to  remain,  in  suspense.  That  rumor  never  sug- 
gested the  name  of  Bacon,  was  owing  probably  to  the 
fact  that  the  ofiice  lay  out  of  tlie  ordinary  line  of  promo- 
tion for  a  lawyer.  And  yet  there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt 
that  he  would  have  been  the  fittest  man  :  nor  was  there 
any  apparent  objection  to  his  being  transferred  to  that 
department,  if  he  were  himself  willing.  It  was  this  con- 
sideration, I  suppose,  which  prompted  him  about  this 
time  to  write  the  following  letter. 

TO   THE   KING. 

It  may  PLEASE  YOUR  EXCELLENT  MAJESTY,  —  My 
principal  end  being  to  do  your  Majesty  service,  I  crave 
leave  to  make  at  this  time  to  your  Majesty  this  most 
humble  oblation  of  myself.  I  may  truly  say  with  the 
l)salm,  Multum  ineolafuit  anima  mea  ;  for  my  life  hat), 
been  conversant  in  things  wherein  I  take  little  pleasure. 
Your  Majesty  may  have  heard  somewhat  that  my  father 
was  an  honest  man,  and  somewhat  you  may  have  seen  of 
myself,  though  not  to  make  any  true  judgment  by,  be- 
cause I  have  hitherto  had  only  potesfatem  verhorum^  nor 
that  neither.  I  was  three  of  my  young  years  bred  with  an 
ainbas.sador  in  France,  and  since  I  have  been  an  old  tru- 
ant in  the  school-house  of  your  council-chamber,  though 
on  tli(^  second  form  ;  yet  longer  than  any  that  now  sitteth 
liath  been  on  the  head  form.  If  your  Majesty  find 
Huy  aptness  in  me,  or  if  you  find  any  scarcity  in  others, 
wherel>y  you  may  think  it  fit  for  your  service  to  remove 
nm  to  business  of  state;  although  I  have  a  fair  way  be- 


1612-13.]    BACON  WISHES  TO  BE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  663 

fore  me  for  profit  (and  by  your  Majesty's  grace  and  fa- 
vor for  honor  and  advancement),  and  in  a  course  less  ex- 
posed to  the  blasts  of  fortune,  yet  now  that  be  is  gone, 
quo  vivente  virtutihus  certissimum  exitium,  I  will  be  ready 
as  a  chessman  to  be  wherever  your  Majesty's  royal  hand 
shall  set  me.  Your  Majesty  will  bear  me  witness,  I 
have  not  suddenly  opened  myself  thus  far.  I  have 
looked  on  upon  others,  I  see  the  exceptions,  I  see  the 
distractions,  and  I  fear  Tacitus  will  be  a  prophet,  magis 
alii  liomines  quam  alii  mores.  I  know  mine  own  heart, 
and  I  know  not  whether  God  that  hath  touched  my 
heart  with  the  affection  may  not  touch  your  royal  heart 
to  discern  it.  Howsoever,  I  shall  at  least  go  on  honestly 
in  mine  ordinary  course,  and  supply  the  rest  in  prayers 
for  you,  remaining,  etc. 

If  the  King  could  have  taken  courage  to  accept  this 
offer,  —  to  make  Bacon  his  principal  Secretary  of  State 
and  uphold  him  firmly  in  the  office,  —  making  him  to 
himself  what  the  first  Cecil  had  been  to  Elizabeth  in  the 
beginning  of  her  reign,  —  it  is  possible  that  the  after 
history  of  England  would  have  run  in  another  course. 
But  perhaps  it  would  have  required  the  spirit  of  Eliza- 
beth to  do  it.  James  could  not  have  done  it  without 
giving  deep  offense  to  all  the  great  people  with  whom  he 
lived,  and  encountering  a  great  deal  of  direct  and  indi- 
rect opposition  from  them  :  and  he  was  not  forced  to  re- 
solve by  the  necessity  of  immediate  action.  For  upon 
the  question  of  calling  a  new  Parliament  (in  which  case 
the  obvious  necessity  of  having  a  competent  man  to  man- 
age his  business  in  the  House  of  Commons  must  have 
hastened  decision)  there  were  divisions  in  the  Council. 
Tlie  Earl  of  Northampton,  who  from  his  age,  his  rank, 
his  reputation,  his  abilities,  and  especially  from  his  influ- 
ence with  Rochester  (an  influence  natural  enough  in  it- 
self and  greatly  increased  by  Roeliester's  interest  in   liis 


664  PARLIAMENT  NOT  YET  CALLED.  [Book  IV. 

niece  —  for  that  unhappy  business  was  already  on  foot), 
was  now  become  one  of  the  most  pow^erful  men  in  the 
kingdom,  is  known  to  have  been  strongly  against  it.  Sir 
Julius  Cajsar,  who  (now  that  Salisbury  was  gone)  was 
the  greatest  oflBcial  authority  in  matters  of  the  Ey.chequer, 
appears  (if  he  was  really  the  author  of  the  dialogue  on 
the  Great  Contract)  to  have  countenanced  the  opinion 
that  the  powers  which  the  King  possessed  were  sufficient 
without  the  help  of  Parliament,  to  deliver  him  from  his 
embarrassments.  Rochester  cannot  be  supposed  to  have 
had  many  ideas  of  his  own  on  so  difficult  a  subject.  The 
King  had  ideas  enougli  ;  but  with  a  Council  so  constituted 
he  had  very  imperfect  opportunities  of  knowing  the 
truth,  and  with  so  fresh  a  recollection  of  recent  disap- 
pointments and  disgusts,  would  naturally  incline  to  the 
opinion  of  those  who  promised  to  set  his  affairs  straight 
without  risking  an  appeal  to  that  troublesome  assembly. 
In  such  circumstances  one  cannot  wonder  that  he  re- 
solved not  to  try  a  Parliament,  or  at  least  put  off  the 
resolution  to  try  one,  till  all  other  means  of  rectifying 
his  estate  should  be  put  in  force.  It  happened  that  his 
case  could  ill  bear  any  such  delay.  Delay  itself  was  bad ; 
and  perhaps  the  manner  in  which  the  interval  was  em- 
ployed made  it  still  worse.  But  so  it  was  to  be.  The 
consideration  of  a  Parliament  was  suspended  for  the 
jjrosent.  The  appointment  of  a  Secretary  of  State  was 
pnstponed.  Tlie  Treasurership  was  put  in  commission. 
The  Counsel  was  set  hard  at  work  to  find  all  possible 
means  of  al)ating  the  expenditure  and  inij)roving  the 
revenue:  Northampton  taking  tlie  hnid  in  Council,  and 
liacf)!!  being  one  of  th(i  most  active  of  the  sub-commis- 
sioners  app(/mted  to  assist. 

His  lett(T8,  however,  had  not  ])een  altogether  thrown 
Hway.  Though  i]u'  King  did  not  make  him  a  Councillor, 
he  encituragc<|  him  to  c)lTer  counsel  upon  the  most  im- 
portant alTairs  of  state  ;  listened  to  him;  and  was  I  think 


1612-13.]  BACON  IN  THE  KING'S  COUNSELS.  605 

generally  disposed  to  act  (I  say  disposed  to  act,  for  be- 
tween the  disposition  to  do  a  thing  and  the  doing  of  it 
there  was  in  his  case  a  great  gap)  upon  his  suggestions. 
So  that  from  the  moment  of  Salisbury's  death  Bacon  be- 
came a  mucli  more  important  person.  Of  this  we  have 
evidence  not  only  in  the  more  frequent  mention  of  his 
name  '\\\  Northampton's  reports  of  council  business,  and 
the  kind  of  work  in  which  he  was  employed,  —  such  as 
the  drawing  up  of  instructions  to  the  commissioners  for 
collectins:  the  "  aid "  on  the  marriage  of  the  Princess 
Elizabeth,  which  botli  for  form  and  substance  were  left 
entirely  to  him, — the  "account  of  the  committees  for 
the  repair  of  the  King's  state  and  raising  of  moneys,"  in 
which  he  seems  to  have  had  a  principal  hand;  and  the  in- 
vestigation of  certain  frauds  practiced  against  the  Crown 
by  the  farmers  of  the  Customs  and  Wines,  in  which  his 
skillful  pursuit  of  the  mysterium  iniquitatis  is  specially 
reported,  —  but  chiefly  in  a  letter  of  his  own  to  the  King, 
from  which  we  learn  how  the  experiment  of  bringing  the 
ordinary  receipts  nearer  to  an  equality  with  the  ordinary 
expenditure  by  better  management  of  the  Crown  prop- 
erty was  succeeding,  and  what  he  thought  of  the  case. 
We  have  already  seen  that  it  was  not  in  this  direction 
that  he  himself  expected  to  find  an  effectual  remedy : 
the  remedy,  in  his  opinion,  must  come  from  Parliament. 
But  as  it  had  been  decided  to  try  this  course  first,  it  was 
not  the  less  important  that  it  should  be  tried  out ;  and 
the  very  expectation  that  it  would  fail  would  be  a  motive 
with  him  for  exhausting  all  the  possibilities  of  suc- 
cess, and  thereby  depriving  its  advocates  of  all  plausible 
ground  for  wasting  more  time  in  the  attempt.  The  letter 
is  docketed  in  his  own  hand,  "  My  letter  to  the  King 
touching  his  estate  in  general.    September  18th,  1G12." 


666  LETTER  TO  THE  KING  ON  HIS  ESTATE.         [Bouk  IV 

TO   THE   KING. 

It  may  please  your  excellent  Majesty,  —  I  have 
with  all  possible  diligence,  since  your  Majesty's  progress, 
attended  the  service  committed  to  the  sub-commissioners 
touching  the  repair  and  improvement  of  your  Majesty's 
means ;  and  this  I  have  done  not  only  in  meeting  and 
conference  and  debate  with  the  rest,  but  also  by  my  sev- 
eral and  private  meditation  and  inquiry.  So  that  be- 
sides the  joint  account  which  we  shall  give  to  the  Lords, 
I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  give  your  Majesty  somewhat  ex 
proprio.  For  as  no  man  lovetli  better  co7isulere  in  com- 
muni  than  I  do,  neither  am  I  of  those  fine  ones  that  use 
to  keep  back  anything  wherein  they  think  they  may  win 
credit  apart,  and  so  make  the  consultation  almost  inutile; 
So  nevertheless,  in  case  where  matter  shall  fall  in  upon 
the  bye,  perhaps  of  no  less  worth  than  that  which  is  the 
proper  subject  of  the  consultation,  or  where  I  find  things 
passed  over  too  slightly,  or  in  case  where  that  which  I 
should  advise  is  of  that  nature  as  I  hold  it  not  fit  to  be 
communicated  to  all  those  with  whom  I  am  joined,  these 
parts  of  business  I  put  to  my  private  account ;  not  be- 
cause I  would  be  officious  (though  I  profess  I  would  do 
woi-ks  of  supererogation  if  I  could),  but  in  a  true  dis- 
cretion and  caution.  And  your  Majesty  had  some  taste 
in  those  notes  which  I  gave  you  for  the  wards  (whieli  it 
])leased  you  to  say  were  no  tricks  nor  novelties,  but  true 
passages  of  business),  that  mine  own  particular  ninuMU- 
brances  and  observations  are  not  like  to  be  uni)r(ifilal)le. 
Concerning  which  notes  for  tlie  wards,  though  I  might 
Hay  Htr  von  nun  vobin,  yet  let  that  pass. 

I  have  al.so  considered  fully  of  that  great  proposition, 
wliich  your  Majesty  connneiided  to  my  can;  and  study, 
loudiing  tlie  conversion  of  your  revenue  of  land  into 
a  nmltiplied  present  revenue  of  rent ;  wherein  I  say,  1 
have  considered  of  the  means  and  course  to  be  taken,  of 


1612-13.]        LETTER  TO  THE  KING  ON  HIS  ESTATE.  667 

the  assurance,  of  the  rates,  of  the  exceptions,  and  of  the 
arguments  for  and  against  it.  For  though  the  project  it- 
self be  as  old  as  I  can  remember,  and  falleth  under  every 
man's  capacity,  yet  the  dispute  and  manage  of  it  asketh 
a  great  deal  of  consideration  and  judgment ;  projects  be- 
ing like  iEsop's  tongues,  the  best  meat  and  the  worst,  as 
they  are  chosen  and  handled.  But  surely,  ubi  deficiunt 
remedia  ordinaria,  recurrendum  est  ad  extraordinaria. 
Of  this  also  I  am  ready  to  give  your  Majesty  an  account. 

Generally  upon  this  subject  of  the  repair  of  your  Maj- 
esty's means,  I  beseech  your  Majesty  to  give  me  leave  to 
make  this  judgment ;  that  your  Majesty's  recovery  must 
be  by  the  medicines  of  the  Galenists  and  Arabians,  and 
not  of  the  Chemists  or  Paracelsians.  For  it  will  not  be 
wrought  by  any  one  fine  extract  or  strong  water,  but  by 
a  skillful  compound  of  a  number  of  ingredients,  and  those 
by  just  weight  and  proportion,  and  that  of  some  simples 
which  perhaps  of  themselves  or  in  over-great  quantity 
were  little  better  than  poisons,  but  mixed  and  broken  and 
in  just  quantity  are  full  of  virtue.  And  secondly,  that 
as  your  Majesty's  growing  behind  hand  hath  been  the 
work  of  time  ;  so  must  likewise  be  your  Majesty's  com- 
ing forth  and  making  even.  Not  but  I  wish  it  were  by 
all  good  and  fit  means  accelerated,  but  that  I  foresee  that 
if  your  Majesty  shall  propound  to  yourself  to  do  it  per 
saltum,  it  can  hardly  be  without  accidents  of  prejudice 
to  your  honor,  safety,  or  profit.^ 

Lastly,  I  will  make  two  prayers  unto  your  Majesty,  as 
I  use  to  do  to  God  Almighty,  when  I  commend  to  him 
his  own  glory  and  cause  ;  so  I  will  pray  to  your  Majesty 
for  yourself. 

The  one  is,  that  these  cogitations  of  want  do  not  any 

1  Here  the  fair  copy,  which  has  begun  to  grow  less  fair  in  the  course  of  the 
last  few  lines,  ends  in  mid  page  witlioiit  any  mark  of  ending.  The  draft,  of 
which  the  beginning  will  be  found  in  the  same  volume,  fo.  232,  and  the  end  at 
to.  8,  goes  on  as  in  the  text.  I  presume  that  Bacon  made  a  fresh  copy  of  tb» 
whole  and  sent  it  to  the  King. 


668  LETTER  TO  THE  KING  ON  HIS  ESTATE.  [Book  IV. 

ways  trouble  or  vex  your  M.'s  mind.  I  remember  Moses 
siiith  of  the  land  of  promise,  that  it  was  not  like  the  land 
of  Egypt  that  was  watered  with  a  river,  but  was  wa- 
tered with  showers  from  heaven  ;  whereby  I  gather,  God 
preferreth  sometimes  uncertainties  before  certainties,  be- 
cause they  teach  a  more  immediate  dependence  upon  his 
providence.  Sure  I  am,  7iil  novi  accidit  vobis.  It  is  no 
new  thing  for  the  greatest  kings  to  be  in  debt ;  and  if  a 
man  shall  jyarvis  componere  magna^  I  have  seen  an  Earl 
of  Leicester,  a  Chancellor  Hatton,  an  Earl  of  Essex,  and 
an  Earl  of  Salisbury,  all  in  debt ;  and  yet  was  it  no  man- 
ner of  diminution  to  their  23ower  or  greatness. 

My  second  prayer  is,  that  your  Majesty  in  respect  of 
the  hasty  freeing  of  your  state  would  not  descend  to  any 
means,  or  degree  of  means,  which  carrieth  not  a  sym- 
metry with  your  majesty  and  greatness.  He  is  gone 
from  whom  those  courses  did  wholly  flow.  To  have 
your  wants  and  necessities  in  particular  as  it  were  hanged 
up  in  two  tablets  before  the  eyes  of  your  lords  and 
commons,  to  be  talked  of  for  four  months  tojxether  :  To 
have  all  your  cour-ses  to  help  yourself  in  revenue  or  prt)fit 
put  into  printed  books,  which  were  wont  to  be  held  ar- 
t-ana hnperii :  To  have  such  wurins  of  aldermen  to  lend 
for  ten  in  tlie  hundred  upon  good  assurance,  and  with 
such  .  .  .1  as  if  it  should  save  the  bark  of  your  for- 
tune :  To  contract  still  where  mought  be  had  the 
readiest  payment,  and  not  the  best  bargain  :  To  stir  a 
number  of  projects  for  your  profit,  and  then  to  blast 
tliem,  and  leave  your  Majesty  nothing  but  the  scandal  of 
them  :  To  pretend  even  carriage  between  your  Majesty's 
rigiits  and  tlie  ease  of  the  people,  and  to  satisfy  neither: 
These  cour.ses  and  others  the  like  I  hope  are  gone  with 
the  deviser  of  them  ;  which  have  turned  your  Majesty  to 
inestimable  prejudice.^ 

1  I  coiilrl  not  make  out  this  word.     "  Entreaty"  ? 

2  The   passaKe   which    followed   here   is  struck  through  with  Bacon's   pea 


1612-13.]  DEATH   OF   PRINCE   HENRY.  G69 

I  hope  your  Majesty  will  pardon  my  liberty  of  writing. 
I  know  these  things  are  majora  qiidm  pro  fortund ;  but 
they  are  minora  qudm  pro  studio  et  voluntate.  I  assure 
myself,  your  Majesty  taketh  not  me  for  one  of  a  busy 
nature ;  for  my  state  being  free  from  all  difficulties,  and 
I  having  such  a  large  field  for  contemplations,  as  I  have 
partly  and  shall  much  more  make  manifest  to  your 
Majesty  and  the  world,  to  occup}'  my  thoughts,  nothing 
could  make  me  active  but  love  and  affection.  So  pray- 
ing my  God  to  bless  and  favor  your  person  and  estate, 
etc. 

I  have  mentioned  the  enlarged  edition  of  Bacon's 
"Essays "  as  being  probably  one  of  the  fruits  of  the 
period  before  Salisbury's  death,  when  his  services  were 
not  wanted  except  in  the  ordinary  business  of  his  place. 
The  book  was  entered  at  Stationer's  Hall  on  the  12th  of 
October,  1612,  and  was  meant  to  be  dedicated  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales :  and  though  the  Prince's  death  on  the 
Gth  of  November  prevented  this,  the  dedicatory  letter 
which  he  had  written  is  preserved  in  a  manuscript  copy 
of  these  "  Essays,"  now  in  the  Bi'itish  Museum. 

Birch  had  printed  it,  but  at  the  request  of  Lord  Hardwick  cancelled  the  leaf 
and  tilled  up  the  space  with  a  note  of  his  own,  containing  a  kind  of  protest 
against  the  foregoing  censure  of  Salisbury.  Whatever  reason  there  may  have 
been  for  suppressing  the  passage  at  that  time  —  and  I  do  not  myself  see  any 
(for  it  does  but  tell  us  of  something  which  Bacon  felt,  but  thought  it  better  to 
leave  unsaid)  —  there  can  be  no  doubt  now,  since  the  publication  of  Lord 
Hardwick's  letter  to  Birch  (X(/e  of  L.  Ch.  Hardwick,  vol.  iii.,  p.  437),  the  terms 
of  which  would  lead  any  one  to  suppose  that  the  cancelled  leaf  contained  some- 
tliing  ver}'  discreditable  to  Bacon,  that  it  ought  to  be  published.  The  words  are 
—  "I  protest  to  God,  though  I  be  not  superstitious,  when  I  saw  your  ISI.'s  book 
against  Vorstius  and  Anuinius,  and  noted  your  zeal  to  deliver  the  majesty  of 
God  from  the  vain  and  indign  comprehensions  of  Heresy  and  degenerate  phi- 
losoph}',  as  you  liad  by  your  pen  formerly  endeavored  to  deliver  Kings  from  the 
usurpation  of  Rome,  2>^''C><l^'t  dlico  aniinuiii  that  God  would  set  shortly  upon 
you  some  visible  favor,  and  let  me  not  live  if  I  thought  not  of  the  taking  away 
of  that  man." 

Bacon's  judgment  of  Salisbury's  financial  policy  may  have  been  wrong  ;  but 
there  can  be  no  reason  now  why  we  should  not  know  what  it  was;  and  ne 
could  not  have  better  evidence  of  what  he  really  felt  than  the  setting  down  and 
then  striking  out  of  a  passage  like  this. 


G70  DEDICATION  OF  THE   "ESSAYS."  [Book  IV. 

TO  THE  MOST  HIGH  AND  EXCELLENT  PRINCE,  HENRY, 
PRINCE  OF  WALES,  DUKE  OF  CORNWALL,  AND  EARL 
OF   CHESTER. 

It  may  PLEASE  YOUR  HiGHNESS,  —  Having  divided 
my  life  into  the  contemplative  and  active  part,  I  am  de- 
sirous to  give  his  JNIajesty  and  your  Highness  of  the  fruits 
of  both,  simple  though  they  be. 

To  write  just  treatises  requireth  leisure  in  the  writer, 
and  leisure  in  the  reader,  and  therefore  are  not  so  fit, 
neitlier  in  regard  of  j^our  Highness'  princely  affairs,  nor 
in  regard  of  my  continual  services  ;  which  is  the  cause 
that  hath  made  me  choose  to  write  certain  brief  notes,  set 
down  rather  significantly  than  curiously,  which  I  have 
called  Essays.  The  word  is  late,  but  the  thing  is  an- 
cient. For  Seneca's  epistles  to  Lucilius,  if  one  mark 
them  well,  are  but  Essays^  that  is,  dispersed  meditations, 
though  conveyed  in  the  form  of  epistles.  These  labors 
of  mine  I  know  cannot  be  worthy  of  your  Highness,  for 
what  can  be  worthy  of  you?  But  my  hope  is,  they  may 
be  as  grains  of  salt,  that  will  rather  give  you  an  appetite 
than  offend  you  with  satiety.  And  although  they  handle 
those  things  wherein  both  men's  lives  and  their  pens  are 
most  conversant,  yet  (what  I  have  attained  I  know  not) 
but  I  have  endeavored  to  make  them  not  vulgar,  but  of 
a  natui-e  whereof  a  man  shall  find  much  in  experience, 
and  little  in  bot^ks;  so  as  they  are  neither  repetitions  nor 
fancies.  But  howsoever,  I  shall  most  humbly  desire  your 
Highness  to  accept  them  in  gracious  part,  and  to  con- 
ceive, that  if  I  cannot  rest,  but  must  sliow  my  dutiful 
and  (l<jvot(Ml  all'eetion  to  your  Highness  in  these  things 
which  j)ro(:ee(l  from  mysidf,  I  shall  be  much  more  ready 
to  (l(j  it  in  perfnriiiiiiict',  of  any  your  princely  command- 
ments. And  so  wishing  your  Highness  all  princely  felio- 
it3i  I  rest, 

Your  Iliifliness's  most  humhie  servant. 


1612-13.]  REMEMBRANCE   OF  PRINCE  HENRY.  671 

The  Prince  himself  being  removed  beyond  the  reach  of 
essays  and  dedications  and  all  human  services,  it  remained 
for  Bacon  to  do  a  small  service  to  his  memory  (in  which 
the  surviving  world  had  an  interest)  by  setting  down  a 
remembrance  of  his  character.  As  he  wrote  it  in  Latin, 
and  made  no  other  use  of  it  so  far  as  we  know,  it  has 
been  conjectured  with  great  probability  that  he  meant  it 
for  De  Thou  to  use  in  his  history.  It  is  a  careful  study 
of  the  man  —  an  attempt  to  describe  or  make  out  what 
he  was  worth  and  what  he  was,  by  diligent  examination 
of  such  personal  traits  as  had  come  within  Bacon's  obser- 
vation or  knowledge  ;  and  though  short,  contains  all  that 
we  can  be  said  to  know  about  him.  We  have  no  account 
of  him  from  any  of  his  familiars,  if  he  had  any.  The 
sayings  or  doings  which  have  been  recorded  of  him  are 
few  and  of  no  great  significance.  And  the  vague  and 
featureless  eulogies  in  which  his  memory  was  celebrated 
at  the  time,  and  with  which  history  seems  to  be  still  con- 
tent, tell  us  nothing  but  that  people  of  all  classes  hoped 
great  things  of  him  :  which  was  an  inevitable  incident 
of  his  position.  From  a  well  conducted  and  personable 
prince  of  nineteen,  who  had  never  had  an  ojDportunity  of 
engaging  in  an}^  public  action  that  could  give  either 
satisfaction  or  offense,  every  man  could  hope  what  he 
pleased,  and  each  hoped  what  he  wished.  If  his  brother 
Charles  had  died  before  he  was  twenty,  I  have  little 
doubt  that  he  would  have  died  with  as  general  regret, 
and  that  the  fairest  hopes  of  the  country  would  as  gen- 
erally have  been  thought  to  have  died  with  him.  Bacon 
was  never  in  any  intimate  relation  with  Prince  Henry, 
but  he  had  of  course  studied  him  diligently  and  curiously 
according  to  his  opportunities,  and  in  this  paper  we  have 
a  full,  and  to  all  appearance  a  candid  and  unreserved, 
report  of  the  result  of  his  study.  It  will  be  found  among 
the  Literary  Works,^  with  a  translation  and  a  preface. 
1  Bacon's  Works,  vol.  ii.,  Part  II.,  p.  9. 


672     QUESTION  OF  CALLING  A   NEW   PARLIAMENT.      [Book  IV. 

The  marriage  of  tbe  princess,  which  was  celebrated  as 
soon  after  the  Prince's  death  as  the  customs  of  the  time 
permitted,  supplied  Bacon  with  an  occasion  of  exercising 
his  taste  in  a  department  for  which,  alien  as  it  was  from 
his  pursuits  both  of  business  and  recreation,  he  alwa3S 
had  a  fancy  ;  the  preparation  of  the  first  masque  pre- 
sented by  the  gentlemen  of  Gray's  Inn  and  the  Inner 
Temple  as  their  contribution  to  the  festivities  :  of  which 
(the  subject  being  the  marriage  of  the  Thames  and  the 
Rhine)  we  are  told  that  he  was  the  chief  contriver. 
After  this,  we  hear  no  more  of  him  except  in  a  trial  for 
contempt  in  disputing  the  legality  of  a  Royal  Commission 
for  reforming  abuses  in  the  Navy,  where  he  appeared  as 
one  of  the  counsel  for  prosecution,  until  the  following 
summer,  when  the  question  of  calling  a  Parliament  came 
again  under  consideration. 

A  twelvemonth  had  now  passed  since  the  Council  was 
set  to  work  in  earnest  to  find  means  of  raisinfj  the  income 
of  the  Crown,  without  help  from  Parliament,  to  an  equal- 
ity with  its  expenditure  :  a  thing  which  the  author  of 
the  dialogue  on  the  Great  Contract  (supposed  to  be  Sir 
Julius  Ciesar)  had  represented  as  practicable.  It  is  now 
time  to  inquire  what  success  they  had  had ;  for  upon  the 
issue  of  the  experiment  the  policy  of  the  coming  years 
would  mainly  depend.  A  rough  draft  in  Sir  Julius 
Caisar's  own  hand  of  a  report  upon  the  proceedings  of 
the  Commissioners  gives  a  full  and  clear  account  of  the 
wliole  case.  Four  ways  had  be(Mi  thought  of.  1.  Spend- 
ing less.  2.  Improvement  of  our  present  revenue.  3. 
New  means  of  gain  by  projects,  etc.  4.  Parliament.  Of 
these  the  third  was  thought  "  dangerous  before  Parlia- 
ment," and  tJM'  fourth  "  very  uncertain."  W<!  need  not 
troubii!  ourselves  with  the  details  ;  but  the  general  result 
was  that  they  had  "  aVjated  and  imjtrovcd  respectively  to 
tiie  King's  profit,  since  my  late  Lord  Treasurer's  death, 
to   the    sum    of    X:'>o,77G,"   and   that    "there    had   been 


1612-13.]        QUESTION  OF  CALLING  A  NEW  PARLIAMENT.         673 

brought  in,  or  would  have  been  into  the  receipt,  if  it 
bad  not  been  otherwise  disposed  of  by  his  Majesty,  to- 
gether with  that  which  was  to  come  in  before  the  end  of 
December  next  in  extraordinary  to  bear  some  part  of  the 
ordinary  wants,  £309,681."  Now  an  increase  in  the  or- 
dinary revenue  of  .£35,776  and  a  collection  of  X 309,681 
extraordinary,  was  not  enough  to  supply  an  annual  defi- 
ciency of  X160,000  and  pay  a  debt  of  X500,000.  It  was 
clear  therefore  that  the  last  of  the  four  ways  to  prevent 
ruin,  though  "  very  uncertain"  a  year  ago,  and  more  un- 
certain now,  must  be  tried :  and  before  the  end  of  June 
the  question  of  calling  a  Parliament  was  again  formally 
referred  to  the  Council  for  consideration. 

Bacon  —  considering  the  extreme  importance  which 
he  attached  to  this  measure,  the  confidence  with  which 
he  had  volunteered  his  opinion  in  favor  of  it  immediately 
after  Salisbury's  death,  when  he  asked  leave  to  propound 
to  the  King  "  some  preparative  remembrances  touching 
the  future  Parliament,"  as  "  taking  himself  to  have  a 
little  skill  in  that  region,  "  and  the  much  more  promi- 
nent position  as  an  assistant  in  council-matters  which  he 
occupied  now  than  then,  —  was  not  likely  to  let  an  occa- 
sion of  this  kind  go  by  without  some  effort  to  lend  a  help- 
ing hand.  I  conceive  therefore  that  certain  undated 
papers  of  his  which  quite  answer  the  description  of  "  pre- 
parative remembrances  touching  a  future  Parliament," 
and  which  were  certainly  written  when  the  question  was 
brought  up  or  about  to  be  brought  up  again  for  consul- 
tation, and  before  any  resolution  had  been  taken,  belong 
in  point  of  date  to  the  summer  of  1613.  Mr.  Gardiner 
puts  them  half  a  year  later :  but  that  is  only  because  he 
assumes  them  to  be  subsequent  to  another  letter  of  later 
date,  which  it  is  clear  to  me  they  preceded.  The  date, 
however,  is  in  this  case  of  little  importance,  in  so  far  as 
it  is  doubtful ;  the  matter  (which  is  of  great  importance) 
not  being  affected  by  it.      Whether  written  in  January, 

VOL.   I.  43 


874        QUESTION  OF  CALLING  A  KEW  PARLIAMENT     [Book  IV. 

1614,  or  in  June,  1613,  they  contain  the  results  of  Ba- 
con's meditations  upon  the  question  of  calling  a  Parlia- 
ment, and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  to  be  dealt  with  in 
order  to  bring  the  session  to  a  successful  issue.  Seldom, 
I  suppose,  has  there  been  a  measure  of  State  which  re- 
quired more  boldness  and  yet  more  delicacy  in  the  hand- 
ling ;  seldom  a  Council  of  State  less  favorably  constituted 
for  handling  it  well.  For  it  was  as  easy  to  go  wrong 
through  too  great  an  anxiety  to  further  it  as  through  too 
much  obstinacy  in  opposing  it.  Too  much  faith  and  too 
little  might  be  equally  fatal.  On  one  side  there  was 
Northampton,  who  had  so  little  hope  from  a  Parlia- 
ment, that  he  seems  to  have  been  not  only  against  its 
being  tried,  but  desirous  that  it  should  miscarry.  On 
the  other  side  were  a  party  of  Parliament  men,  who 
out  of  confidence  in  their  own  experience  and  influence 
with  the  Lower  House  were  rash  enough  to  undertake 
the  managt'raent  of  it,  and  to  engage  that  if  the  King 
would  follow  their  advice,  his  business  should  be  car- 
ried to  his  satisfaction.  At  the  head  of  these  was  Sir 
Henry  Neville,  an  able  and  public-spirited  man,  with 
large  and  just  views  as  to  the  state  of  the  times,  with 
sympathies  well  balanced  between  the  people  and  the 
Crown,  —  earnest  for  the  redress  of  grievances,  yet  hop- 
ing to  be  made  secretary  of  state,  —  and  possessing,  il 
would  seem,  much  influence  over  Rochester,  which  was 
the  best  opening  for  influence  over  the  King.  Several 
memorials  and  advices  of  his  are  extant  which  refer  to 
this  period  ;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted,  I  think,  that  his 
endn  were  wise  and  patriotic.  But  the  case  was  new  and 
diflicult,  and  tiie  event  proved  that  he  did  not  thoroughly 
understand  his  ground.  He  knew  the  harbor  which  was 
to  be  steenMi  for,  and  in  whicli  it  would  be  good  for  all 
parties,  and.  satisfac^tory  to  all  parties,  tf)  arrive  ;  but  he 
h;id  not  thoroughly  fatliomed  the  dcptljs  and  shallows  of 
|>o|iiil;ii- jiiilL^nicnt   in  such    :in    assembly  as   tlif    House  of 


1612-13.]        QUESTION  OF  CALLING  A  NEW  PARLIAMENT.        675 

Commons  had  now  become.  The  sands  at  the  bottom 
were  rapidly  and  secretly  shifting,  and  the  currents  at 
the  top  were  shifting  with  them.  It  was  not  either  an- 
cient experience  or  I'ecent  experience  that  could  tell  a 
man  where  the  safe  course  now  lay ;  but  only  the  com- 
bination of  experiences  both  old  and  new  with  that  pro- 
phetic sagacity  which  is  derived  from  a  profound  insight 
into  the  nature  of  man,  and  reserved  for  original  genius  of 
the  highest  order.  It  was  no  great  blame  to  him,  there- 
fore, and  his  associates,  if  they  ran  the  vessel  aground ; 
nor  any  great  blame  to  James  that  he  took  them  for 
his  pilots.     But  I  think  he  had  the  choice  of  a  better. 

That  Bacon,  had  he  been  prime  minister,  could  have 
carried  the  business  through  successfully,  it  is  of  course 
impossible  to  say.  But  the  papers  of  which  I  am  now 
speaking  —  and  which  though  they  hav-e  been  accessible 
to  everybody  ever  since  the  catalogue  of  the  Cotton 
MSS.  was  open  to  inspection,  have  never  been  printed 
—  enable  me  to  say  thus  much :  that  though  aiming  at 
the  very  same  ends  (for  I  do  not  know  that  he  Avould 
have  objected  to  any  one  of  the  measures  which  Sir 
Henry  Neville  proposed  to  carry)  he  would  have  pro- 
ceeded in  a  different  manner  ;  and  that  too  from  an  ap- 
prehension of  danger  in  the  very  quarter  where  the  event 
proved  that  it  really  lay.  We  have  seen  how  strong!  \' 
he  disapproved  of  the  contract-policy  which  was  pursued 
with  the  last  Pai'liament,  and  how  strongly  he  advised 
that  no  time  should  be  lost  in  calling  another.  We  are 
now  to  see  what  course  he  would  have  had  the  King  take 
with  it,  in  order  to  recover  the  ground  which  he  had  lost. 

Two  of  these  papers  contain  only  his  private  medita- 
tions upon  the  questions  to  be  considered,  the  result  of 
the  consideration  not  being  recorded.  But  so  much  as 
he  was  then  ready  to  offer  in  the  shape  of  practical  ad- 
vice he  proceeded  to  explain  in  a  confidential  letter  ad- 
dressed to  the   Kino;  himself. 


676  BACON'S  ADVICE  TO  THE  KING.  [Book  IV. 

TO   THE  KING. 

It  may  please  youe,  excellent  Majesty,  —  Be- 
fore your  Majesty  resolve  with  your  Counsel  concerning 
a  Parliament,  mine  incessant  care  and  infinite  desire  that 
your  Majesty's  affairs  may  go  well  have  made  me  in  the 
case  of  Elihu  who,  though  he  was  the  inferior  amongst 
Job's  counsellors,  yet  saith  of  himself  that  he  was  like 
a  vessel  of  new  wine,  that  could  not  but  burst  forth  in 
uttering  his  opinion.  And  this  which  I  shall  write  I 
humbly  pray  your  Majesty  may  be  to  yourself  in  private*. 
Not  that  I  shall  ever  say  that  in  your  Majesty's  ear 
which  I  will  be  either  ashamed  or  afraid  to  speak  openly ; 
but  because  perhaps  it  might  be  said  to  me  after  the 
manner  of  the  censure  of  Themistocles,  "  Sir,  your  words 
require  a  city  ;  "  so  to  me  :  "  You  forerun  :  your  words 
require  a  greater  place. "  Yet  because  the  opportunity 
of  your  Majesty's  so  urgent  occasion  flieth  away,  I  take 
myself  sufriciently  warranted  by  the  place  I  hold,  joined 
with  your  Majesty's  particular  trust  and  favor,  to  write 
tiicse  lines  to  your  INIajesty  in  private. 

The  matter  of  Parliament  is  a  great  problem  of  estate, 
and  deserveth  apprehensions  and  doubts.  But  yet  I  pray 
your  Majesty  remember  that  saying.  Qui  tim'ule  rogat 
docet  wfjiire.  For  I  am  still  of  the  opinion  (whidi  I 
touched  in  general  in  my  former  letter  to  your  Majesty), 
that  above  all  tilings  your  Majesty  should  not  descend  be- 
low yourself;  and  that  those  tragicjd  arguments  and  (as 
the  schoolmen  call  them)  ultimities  of  persuasions  which 
were  us(m1  last  Parliament  should  for  ever  be  abolished, 
and  that  your  Majesty  should  proceed  with  your  Parlia- 
ment in  a  MiDre  familiar,  but  yet  a  more  princely  manner. 

All  therefore  which  T  sliall  say  shall  be  reduced  to  two 
heads. 

First,  lliat  the  good  or  evil  A\wt  like  to  ensue  of  a 
Parliiiiiieiit    resteth   much   uj^on    the  course  which 


1612-13.]  BACON'S  ADVICE  TO  THE  KING.  677 

your  Majesty  shall  be  pleased  to  hold  with  your 
Parliament;    and  that    a    Parliament   simply  in 
itself  is  not  to  be  doubted. 
Secondly,  what  is  the  course  which  I  would  advise 
were  held,  as  safest  from  inconvenience,  and  most 
effectual  and  likely  to  prevail. 
In  both  which  parts  your  Majesty  will  give  me  leave 
to  write  not  curiously,  but  briefly;  for  I  desire  that  what 
I  write  in  this  argument  may  be  nihil  minus  quam  verba. 
For  the  first  my  reasons  are  :  — 

1.  I  do  not  find  since  the  last  Parliament  any  new  ac- 
tion of  estate  amongst  your  Majesty's  proceedings  that 
hath  been  harsh  or  distasteful :  and  therefore  seeing  the 
old  grievances  (having  been  long  broached)  cannot  but 
wax  dead  and  flat,  and  tliat  there  hath  been  no  new  mat- 
ter either  to  rub  up  and  revive  tlie  old  or  to  give  other 
cause  of  discontent,  I  think  the  case  much  amended  to 
your  Majesty's  advantage.  It  is  true  there  have  been 
privy  seals,  but  it  is  as  true  they  were  never  so  gently 
either  rated  or  pressed.  And  besides,  privy  seals  be  ever 
thought  rather  an  attractive  than  a  repercussive  to  sub- 
sidies. 

2.  The  justice  upon  my  Lord  Sanquir  hath  done  your 
Majesty  a  great  deal  of  riglit,  showing  that  your  Majesty 
is  fixed  in  that  resolution, 

Tros  Tyriusque  mihi  nuUo  discrimiae  agctur  : 

which  certainly  hath  rectified  the  spleen-side,  howsoever 
it  is  with  the  liver. 

3.  Let  it  not  offend  your  Majesty  if  I  say  that  the 
Earls  of  Salisbury  and  Dunbarre  have  taken  a  great  deal 
of  envy  from  you  and  carried  it  into  the  other  world, 
and  left  unto  your  Majesty  a  just  diversion  of  many  dis- 
contents. 

4.  That  opposition  which  was  the  last  Parliament  to 
your  Majesty's  business,  as  much  as  was  not  ex  puris 
naturalihus,  but  out  of  party.  I  conceive  to  be  now  much 


678  BACON'S  ADVICE  TO  THE  KING.  [Book  IV. 

weaker  than  it  was,  and  that  party  almost  dissolved. 
Yelverton  is  won ;  Sandes  is  fallen  off  ;  Crew  and  Hyde 
stand  to  be  Serjeants;  Brocke  is  dead;  Nevell  hath 
hopes  ;  Barkeley  I  think  will  be  respective  ;  Martin  hath 
money  in  his  purse  ;  Dudley  Digges  and  Holys  are  yours. 
Besides,  they  cannot  but  find  more  and  more  the  vanity 
of  that  popular  course;  specially  your  Majesty  having 
carried  yourself  in  that  princely  temper  towards  them, 
as  not  to  persecute  or  disgrace  them,  nor  yet  to  use  or 
advance  them. 

5.  It  was  no  marvel  the  last  Parliament,  men  being 
possessed  with  a  bargain,  if  it  bred  in  them  an  indisposi- 
tion to  give  ;  both  because  the  breaking  left  a  kind  of 
discontent,  and  besides.  Bargain  and  gift  are  antitheta,  as 
the  Apostle  speaketh  of  Grace  and  Works  ;  and  howso- 
ever they  distinguished  Supply  and  Support  in  words, 
yet  they  were  commixed  in  men's  hearts,  and  the  enter- 
taining of  the  thoughts  of  the  one  did  cross,  and  was  a 
disturbance  and  impediment  to  the  other. 

6.  Lastly,  I  cannot  excuse  him  that  is  gone  of  an  arti- 
ficial animating  of  the  Negative ;  which  infusion  or  in- 
fluence now  ceasing  I  have  better  hope. 

For  the  course  I  wish  to  be  held,  I  most  humbly  be- 
seech your  Majesty  to  pardon  the  liberty  and  simplicity 
which  I  shall  use.  I  shall  distribute  that  which  I  am  to 
say  into  four  propositions. 

The  first  is  — 

1.  That  your  Majesty  do  for  this  Parliament  put  off 
Ihe  person  of  a  merchant  and  contractor,  and  rest  upon 
the  person  of  a  King.  Certainly  when  I  heard  tlie  over- 
tures last  ParliamtMit  carried  in  such  a  strange  figure  and 
•dea,  as  if  your  Majesty  should  no  more  (for  matter  of 
profit)  have  needed  your  subjects'  lu'lp,  nor  your  subjects 
in  that  kind  shonlil  no  more  have  needed  your  graces 
and  V)enignity, —  metliouglit,  besides  the  difficulty  (in 
next  dogroo  to  an  impoasibility),  it  was  aniniaJifi  aapirnfia, 


1612-13.]  BACON'S  ADVICE  TO  THE  KING.  679 

and  almost  contrary  to  the  very  frame  of  a  monarchy, 
and  those  original  obligations  which  it  is  God's  will 
should  intercede  between  King  and  people. 

Besides,  as  things  now  stand,  your  Majesty  hath  re- 
ceived infinite  prejudice  by  the  consequence  of  the  new 
Instructions  for  the  Court  of  Wards  :  for  now  it  is  almost 
made  public  that  the  profits  of  the  Wards  being  hus- 
banded to  the  best  improvement  (which  is  utterly  un- 
true) yet  amounteth  to  a  small  matter ;  ^  and  so  the  sub- 
stance of  your  bargain  extremely  disvalued. 

2.  My  second  proposition  is  that  your  Majesty  make 
this  Parliament  but  as  a  coup  d'essai/,  and  accordingly 
that  your  Majesty  proportion  your  demands  and  expec- 
tation. For  as  things  were  managed  last  Parliament, 
we  are  in  that  case,  optima  disciplina  mala  dediscere. 
Until  your  Majesty  have  tuned  your  instrument  yon  will 
have  no  harmony.  I,  for  my  part,  think  it  a  thing  ines- 
timable to  your  Majesty's  safety  and  service,  that  you 
once  part  with  your  Parliament  with  love  and  reverence. 
The  proportions  I  will  not  now  descend  unto ;  but  if  the 
payments  may  be  quickened,  there  is  much  gotten. 

And  if  it  be  said,  his  Majesty's  occasions  will  not  en- 
dure these  proceedings  gradatim  ;  yes,  surely.  Nay  I  am 
of  opinion  that  what  is  to  be  done  for  his  Majesty's  good, 
as  well  by  the  improvement  of  his  own  as  by  the  aid  of 
his  people,  it  must  be  Aoxi^  per  gradxis  and  not  per  sal- 
tum  ;  for  it  is  the  soaking  rain  and  not  the  tempest  that 
relieveth  the  ground. 

3.  My  third  proposition  is  that  tliis  Parliament  may 
be  a  little  reduced  to  the  more  ancient  form  (for  I  ac- 
count it  but  a  form),  which  was  to  voice  the  Parliament 
to  be  for  some  other  business  of  estate,  and  not  merely 
for  money ;  but  that  to  come  in  upon  the  bye,  whatso- 
ever the  truth  be.  And  let  it  not  be  said  that  this  is  but 
dancing  in  a  net,  considering  the  King's  wants  have  been 

1  Estimated  at  dC20,000  only. 


680  BACON'S  ADVICE  TO  THE  KING.  [Book  IV. 

made  so  notorious ;  for  I  mean  it  not  in  point  of  dis- 
simulation but  in  point  of  majesty'  and  honor ;  that  the 
pi'ople  may  have  somewliat  else  to  talk  of  and  not  wholly 
ol:  tlie  King's  estate  ;  and  that  Parliament-men  may  not 
wliolly  be  possessed  with  those  thoughts ;  and  that  if 
the  King  should  have  occasion  to  break  up  his  Parlia- 
ment suddenly,  there  may  be  more  civil  color  to  do  it. 
What  shall  be  the  causes  or  estate  given  forth  ad  popu- 
lum  ;  whether  the  opening  or  increase  of  trade  (wherein 
I  meet  with  the  objection  of  Impositions,  but  j^et  I  con- 
ceive it  may  be  accommodate),  or  whether  the  planta- 
tion of  Ireland,  or  the  reducement  and  recompiling  of 
laws,  —  throAving  in  some  bye-matters  (as  Sutton's  es- 
tate,^  or  the  like) — it  may  be  left  to  further  considera- 
tion. But  I  am  settled  in  this,  that  somewhat  be  pub- 
lished besides  the  money  matter  ;  and  that  in  this  form 
there  is  much  advantage. 

Lastly,  as  I  wish  all  princely  and  kind  courses  held 
with  liis  Majesty's  Parliament,  so  nevertheless  it  is  good 
to  take  away  as  much  as  is  po.ssible  all  occasions  to  make 
subjects  proud,  or  to  think  your  Majesty's  wants  arc  re- 
mediless but  only  by  Parliament.  And  therefore  I  could 
wish  it  were  given  out  that  there  are  means  found  in  his 
Majesty's  estate  to  help  himself  (which  T  {)artly  think  is 
true),  but  that,  because  it  is  not  the  work  of  a  day,  his 
Majesty  must  be  beholding  to  his  subjects  :  but  as  to 
facilitate  and  speed  the  recovery  of  himself  rather  than 
of  an  absolute  necessity.  vMso  that  there  1)0  no  brigues 
nor  canvass(!s,  whereof  I  hear  too  much  ;  for  certainly 
howsoever  men  may  seek  to  valuta  their  service  in  that 
kind,  it  will  but  increase  animosities  and  oppositions; 
and  besides  will  make  whatsoever  shall  be  done  to  be  in 
evil  conceit  among.st  your  people  in  general  afterwards. 

Thus  have  1  set  down  to  your  Majesty  my  simple  opin- 

'  Tliiil  in,  I  Hiipposp,  ill  ca.sn  the  will  were  evicted.  .Tudt;ment  wiis  final];? 
given  in  favor  of  the  will  on  2.3d  .June,  1813. 


1G12-1;].J  BACON'S  ADVICE  TO  THE  KING.  681 

ion,  wherein  I  make  myself  believe  I  see  a  fair  way 
through  the  present  business,  and  a  dimidium  totius  to 
the  main.  But  I  submit  all  to  your  Majesty's  high  wis- 
dom, most  humbly  desiring  pardon,  and  praying  the 
highest  to  direct  you  for  the  best. 

Your  Majesty's  most  humble  and  true  servant, 

Fr.  Bacon. 

These  papers,  though  they  had  been  seen  by  Mr.  Hal- 
lam  and  have  since  been  largely  commented  upon  by  Mr. 
Gardiner,  have  not  in  my  opinion  received  the  attention 
they  deserve,  whether  as  illustrations  of  Bacon's  political 
career,  or  as  evidence  concerning  the  history  of  the  time. 
The  confidential  character  of  the  letter  to  the  King  gives 
it  a  peculiar  value,  as  containing  Bacon's  own  private 
and  original  opinion.  What  a  man  writes  or  speaks  con- 
cerning matters  in  which  a  resolution  has  already  been 
taken  by  others  or  in  concert  with  them,  does  not  neces- 
sarily indicate  his  own  personal  opinion.  He  may  be 
only  making  the  best  of  a  course  which  has  been  chosen 
{(gainst  his  judgment  and  advice ;  and  there  are  many 
passages  in  Bacon's  official  and  Parliamentary  career 
which  are  to  be  read  with  that  qualification.  But  where 
a  man  goes  out  of  his  way  to  offer  his  opinion  in  private 
upon  matters  which  are  still  under  consultation,  and  that 
too  with  a  view  to  influence  the  decision,  there  we  may 
be  sure  we  have  his  own  genuine  views.  There  is  noth- 
ing to  restrain  him  from  recommending  exactly  what  he 
thinks  best.  It  is  worth  wdiile  therefore  to  exatnine  this 
piece  of  advice  a  little  more  closely,  that  we  may  be  the 
better  prepared  to  see  how  far  it  was  attended  to,  and 
what  were  the  consequences  of  neglecting  it. 

The  course  recommended  by  Sir  Henry  Neville  was  no 
doubt  much  simpler,  and  if  we  might  assume  that  the 
success  of  it  was  as  certain  as  he  himself  took  it  to  be, 
might  justly  be  preferred.     It  seems  indeed  to  ha^e  been 


682  ADVICE  GIVEN  BY  SIR  H.  NEVILLE.  [Book  IV. 

framed  for  an  age  of  innocence,  when  peo2)le  had  nothing 
to  do  but  to  be  good.  Let  the  King  suspend  for  the 
present  all  projects  for  raising  money  independently  of 
Parliament;  make  up  his  mind  to  grant  to  his  subjects, 
as  of  grace,  the  things  they  desire  ;  forbear  any  speech 
that  may  irritate ;  seem  confident  of  their  affection ; 
speak  graciously  to  the  people  during  progress ;  take 
notice  of  the  principal  gentlemen  and  let  them  kiss  his 
lumd-,  "give  order  to  the  Archbishop  to  prohibit  all 
books  and  invective  sermons  against  the  Parliament,  so 
as  notice  may  be  taken  of  his  Majesty's  commandment 
before  the  meeting;"  peruse  the  grievances  last  exhib- 
ited, see  that  all  promises  have  been  performed,  and 
"  if  he  would  please  to  be  gracious  "  in  an}^  of  the  others, 
"do  it  of  himself  before  he  be  pressed:"  Having  sum- 
moned his  Parliament  to  meet  at  Michaelmas,  let  him 
begin  by  announcing  to  them  such  favors  and  graces  as 
he  is  ready  to  bestow,  and  inviting  a  deputation  to  confer 
with  him  about  their  further  demands;  let  him  "be  gra- 
cious to  his  people  in  the  points  proposed,  or  any  other 
of  the  like  nature  which  may  be  thought  of  by  the  House 
when  they  meet  (for  beforehand  no  man  can  precisely 
say  these  things  would  be  demanded  and  no  other)  : " 
Let  him  do  all  this,  and  Sir  Henry  Neville  is  ready  to 
answer  for  it,  that  "  in  a  month  or  five  weeks  this  point 
of  supplying  the  King  and  of  his  retribution  will  be  easily 
determined,  if  it  be  proposed  betimes  and  followed  close 
afterwards,"  —  "that  his  Majesty  shall  rect'ive  as  mncli 
contentment  of  this  next  Parliament  as  he  received  dis- 
taste of  th(^  former,  —  and  that  all  things  will  end  in  that 
Bweet  accord  tliat  will  be  both  honorable  and  comfortable 
for  his  Majesty  and  happy  for  the  whole  realm."  After 
which  —  "wlien  his  Majesty  hath  made  use  of  his  people's 
alTeetions  to  put  him  out  of  want,  any  fit  projects  that 
shall  be  offered  may  be  the  boldlicir  entertained  to  fill  hia 
coffers." 


1612-13.]  ADVICE  GIVEN  BY   SIR   H.   NEVILLE.  683 

What  could  be  simpler  or  more  delightful  ?  But  was 
he  quite  sure  that  nothing  would  be  desired  by  the  House 
of  Commons  but  what  the  King,  before  he  knew  what  it 
was,  might  safel}'  engage  to  concede  ?  Because  if  such  a 
thing  should  happen,  the  whole  castle  would  tumble. 

Upon  this  extremely  important  point,  the  only  satis- 
faction which  Sir  H.  Neville  had  to  offer  was  his  own 
conviction  that  there  was  no  danger.  He  had  lived  and 
conversed  intimately  with  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  in 
the  last  Parliament,  "•  knew  their  inwardest  thoughts  on 
that  business,"  and  "  durst  undertake  for  most  of  them, 
that  the  King's  Majesty  proceeding  in  a  gracious  course 
towards  his  people  should  find  those  gentlemen  exceeding 
willing  to  do  him  service,  and  to  give  him  such  content- 
ment as  might  sweeten  all  the  former  distastes,  and  leave 
both  his  Majest}^  and  the  world  fully  satisfied  of  their 
good  intentions  and  of  the  general  affection  of  his  sub- 
jects." He  could  not  say  exactly  what  concessions  would 
satisfy  them:  but  he  had  made  "a  collection  of  such 
things  as  had  been  by  several  men  desired  to  be  obtained 
of  his  Majesty  for  the  good  of  his  people,"  and  from  this 
it  would  be  seen  that  they  did  not  aim  at  anything  unjust 
or  unreasonable. 

Perhaps  not.  But  though  the  things  asked  for  up  to 
this  time  may  have  been  reasonable,  and  the  leaders  may 
(like  Neville  himself)  have  been  willing  to  rest  there, 
who  could  answer  for  the  followers  ?  Moderate  men  may 
continue  to  lead  as  long  as  they  continue  to  advance.  But 
as  soon  as  the  party  which  they  have  created  has  learned 
its  strength  and  the  secret  of  it,  their  leadership  is  held 
thenceforward  upon  condition  of  ^oing  as  far  and  as  fast 
as  their  followers  want  to  go.  If  they  stop  short,  they 
are  run  over,  and  the  lead  is  taken  by  whoever  goes  fore- 
most. In  this  case  Neville  knew  what  concessions  he  was 
himself  prepared  to  insist  on  as  the  conditions  of  a  vote 
of  supply,  and  knew  them  (we  will  suppose)  to  be  just, 


684       BACON^S   ADVICE  AND   NEVILLE'S  COMPAKED.     [Book  IV. 

safe,  and  expedient.  But  how  could  he  know  that  Hos- 
kyns  or  Wentworth  or  Chute  would  not  insist  upon  ex- 
torting by  the  same  means  some  concession  which  he 
would  think  unjust,  unsafe,  or  inexpedient  ?  How  could 
he  know  that  they  would  not  carry  a  majority  of  the 
House  with  them  ?  If  they  did,  what  could  he  and  his 
friends  do  to  prevent  it  ?  And  if  they  could  not  prevent 
it,  in  what  case  did  they  leave  the  King?  Of  any  pro- 
vision, either  for  encountering  an  unreasonable  opposition 
or  securing  in  case  of  repulse  an  honorable  retreat,  there 
is  no  hint  in  any  "part  of  his  paper. 

Bacon's  advice,  though  proceeding  upon  the  same 
grounds  and  aiming  at  the  same  ends  (for  such  a  conclu- 
sion as  Neville  promised  would  have  been  all  he  wished 
for),  differs  in  several  points  which  are  material.  That 
a  gracious  meeting  and  parting  between  the  King  and 
the  Parliament  was  a  thing  absolutely  necessary  ;  that 
no  time  was  to  be  lost ;  and  that  he  should  proceed 
towards  the  Lower  House  with  confidence,  as  liaving  no 
doubt  of  their  good  affection :  so  far  they  agree.  But  at 
this  point  they  part. 

If  the  King  followed  Neville's  advice,  he  would  begin 
at  once  with  an  offer  of  his  bills  of  grace,  and  an  invita- 
tion to  confer  with  the  Lower  House  upon  their  desires 
and  grievances ;  he  would  then  have  the  question  of 
supply  and  retribution  proposed  at  once,  and  followed 
closely,  so  that  the  whole  business  might  be  concluded 
within  a  month  or  five  weeks:  he  would  make  it  in  fact 
ostensibly  and  merely  a  money  Parliament.  If  he  fol- 
lowed Bacon's,  this  was  the  very  thing  wliich  he  would 
specially  avoid.  On  the  contrary,  he  would  endeavor  to 
bring  the  I'arliamcnt  back  to  the  ancient  form.  He 
would  let  it  be  understood  that  it  was  called  for  the  con- 
sideration of  some  great  question  f)f  State,  such  as  the 
opening  of  trad*',  the  colonization  of  Ireland,  or  tlie  re- 
cnmpilement  of  the  laws  ;  and  say  nothing  about  supply 


1612-13.]     BACON'S  ADVICE  AND  NEVILLE'S  COMPAHED.  685 

or  retribution  ;  but  leave  such  matters  to  come  up  by  the 
way.  He  would  have  measures  in  readiness  for  the  con- 
tentment and  comfort  of  the  people  ;  but  instead  of  in- 
viting the  Lower  House  to  discuss  with  him  their  desires 
and  complaints  (a  sure  way  of  teaching  them  to  extend 
the  list),  he  would  endeavor  so  to  occupy  their  attention 
that  the  collecting  and  discussing  of  grievances  should  be 
kept  back  till  his  own  business  were  well  advanced. 

Again  :  If  he  followed  Neville's  advice,  he  would  bring 
the  popular  demand  for  concessions  and  his  own  demand 
for  supply  into  such  close  proximity,  that  t^ey  would  in- 
evitably take  the  form  of  a  bargain,  and  be  weighed  one 
against  the  other, — value  to  be  bestowed  in  concessions 
against  value  to  be  received  in  subsidies.  If  he  followed 
Bacon's  he  would  endeavor  to  avoid  all  appearance  of 
bargaining  in  such  matters,  not  merely  because  to  dispute 
about  bargains  with  his  people  would  entail  a  loss  of 
majesty  in  their  eyes,  —  a  price  at  which,  even  if  it  had 
been  the  readiest  way  to  disembarrass  the  Exchequer,  the 
disembarrassment  would  have  been  dearly  purchased,  — 
but  because  the  nature  of  the  reciprocal  concessions  did 
not  admit  of  that  kind  of  valuation.  To  conclude  such  a 
bargain  as  would  have  made  the  Crown  and  the  people 
independent  of  eacth  other  for  the  future  was  a  thing  not 
to  be  wished,  even  if  it  had  been  practicable  ;  and  to 
fceach  them  to  expect  in  return  for  each  vote  of  supply 
some  particular  boon  from  the  Crown  of  corresponding 
value,  was  to  lead  them  away  from  the  consideration  (»f 
their  true  function,  which  was  to  furnish  the  government 
with  the  means  of  governing  well ;  so  to  maintain  the 
Crown  that  the  Crown  might  maintain  the  people.  For 
certainly  the  duties  which  the  King  owed  to  his  subjects 
were  not  of  a  nature  to  be  appraised  and  reduced  to  a 
value  in  money.  What  they  were  w-orth  was  not  what 
they  might  be  sold  for,  but  what  it  might  cost  to  get 
them  done.     Therefore,  however  it  might  be  desirable  to 


686        BACON'S  ADVICE  AND  NEVILLE'S  COMPARED.     [Book  IV. 

bestow  largely  upon  the  people  particular  boons  of  pecu- 
niary or  other  relief,  the  better  to  quicken  their  affection 
and  strengthen  their  confidence,  yet  to  offer  these  by  way 
of  equivalents  for  subsidies  was  utterly  wrong  and  tended 
to  defeat  its  own  purpose. 

Again :  If  the  King  followed  Neville's  advice,  though 
he  would  assume  that  his  people  were  willing  to  help 
him,  he  would  make  no  secret  of  the  fact  that  he  could 
not  do  without  their  help,  and  that  it  rested  with  them 
whether  they  would  give  it  or  not.  For  the  price  he  was 
to  be  prepar^  to  give  for  it  was  "  the  being  gracious  to 
his  people  in  the  points  proposed,  or  any  other  of  the  like 
7iature  which  might  be  thought  of,''''  —  which  was  nothing 
less  than  the  concession  of  everything  which  had  been  or 
might  be  demanded.  If  he  followed  Bacon's  he  would 
endeavor  to  avoid  all  appearance,  not  merely  of  misgiv- 
ing as  to  the  affection  of  the  Commons,  but  of  solicitude 
as  to  the  event.  He  would  let  it  be  understood  that  he 
had  the  means  of  disembarrassing  himself  without  their 
help,  though  it  would  take  more  time. 

Once  more:  If  he  followed  Neville's  advice  he  would 
stake  all  on  the  issue,  and  if  he  lost  would  be  left  in  a 
condition  as  bad  or  worse  than  the  time  before  :  for  the 
parting  could  hardly  be  without  another  quarrel.  If  he 
followed  Bacon's  he  would  treat  the  thing  as  an  experi- 
ment, and  be  prepared  to  meet  a  disa])p()iutment  without 
discomposure  or  show  (jf  irritati(»ii.  The  growing  de- 
pendences of  the  Crown  upon  the  Common.s  wa.s  indeed  a 
fact  which  it  behoved  the  Crown  to  accept  and  under- 
stand and  remember.  The  tendency  in  that  direction 
was  inevilabh'.  It  is  pi'obably  no  exaggin-ation  to  say 
thiit  tlui  ('njwn  was  aii'eady  dependent  uj)on  the  Com- 
mons; that  Ih,  they  hatl  it  in  tlieir  power  to  withliold 
fr(»m  the  King  the  means  of  carrying  on  the  government, 
and  thereby  to  bring  him  to  their  own  terms:  not  indeed 
absolutely,  or  at  once  :   but  if  they  chose  to  persevere  in 


1612-13.J     BACON'S  ADVICE  AND  NEVn.LE'S  COMPARED.  687 

refusing  supplies  until  the  conditions  they  demanded 
were  complied  with,  to  those  conditions  he  must  have 
come  at  last.  But  thougli  this  was  the  fact,  it  was  a  fact 
not  yet  declared ;  and  most  desirable  it  was  that  for  the 
present  it  should  be  disguised  from  popular  observation. 
It  was  fit  therefore  that  the  King  should  act  as  if  that 
condition  were  not  necessary  to  him  which  the  Common? 
might  constitutionally  i-efuse.  He  must  in  fact  be  pre- 
pared to  do  without  it,  and  let  it  be  seen  that  he  was  so 
prepared.  Bacon  saw  that  to  produce  this  impression 
was  now  the  King's  first  object ;  a  sine  qua  non  :  that  if 
he  succeeded  in  that  it  would  be  enough,  though  he 
succeeded  in  nothing  else ;  and  therefore  that  his  true 
policy  was  to  carry  matters  so  that  the  hope  of  contribu- 
tion might  not  seem  to  be  a  principal  motive  for  calling 
the  Parliament,  nor  any  disappointment  in  that  respect  a 
motive  for  proroguing  it ;  but  to  treat  it  as  a  thing  com- 
paratively immaterial,  which  was  not  essential  to  his  pur- 
poses and  did  not  affect  his  proceedings :  and  left  him 
free  "to  part  with  his  Parliament  with  love  and  rever- 
ence " —  for  once:  "a  thing  inestimable  to  his  safety 
and  service." 

Finally,  if  the  King  followed  Neville's  advice,  he 
would  trust  absolutel}^  and  implicitly  to  the  good  faith 
and  persuasive  powers  of  the  opposition  leaders,  who  un- 
dertook that  if  he  did  what  they  bid  him  do,  he  should 
have  what  he  wanted.  If  he  followed  Bacon's  (who  had 
seen  many  more  Parliaments  than  they),  he  would  en- 
deavor to  prevent  all  canvassing  to  form  a  party  for  him 
in  the  House,  as  that  which  would  be  sure  to  "  increase 
animosities  and  oppositions  ;  "  but  would  at  tlie  same 
time  neglect  no  fair  means  of  conciliating  the  support  or 
averting  the  hostility  of  the  several  parties  of  which  the 
House  was  composed. 

We  shall  see  liereafter  what  course  was  followed,  and 
with   what  results.     For  the  present,  the    question   was 


688  DEATH  OF  SIR  THOMAS   FLEMING.  [Book  IV. 

again  postponed.  On  the  4th  of  July,  Lord  Northampton 
reported  to  Sir  Thomas  Lake  (who  was  with  the  court) 
that  the  Council  were  busy  with  the  care  of  the  King's 
estate:  "only  of  the  Parliament,  or  reasons  either  to 
move  or  remove  the  same,  they  had  hitherto  foreborne 
to  speak  ;  because  it  was  consequent  to  precedent  ques- 
tion or  disputes  which  the  Lords  of  the  Commission  had 
now  in  hammering." 

About  the  time  that  these  things  were  under  discussion, 
a  vacancy  in  the  Bench  gave  Bacon  a  chance  of  promo- 
tion in  the  natural  line  of  his  progress.  On  the  7th  of 
August,  1613,  Sir  Thomas  Fleming,  Chief  Justice  of  the 
King's  Bench,  died.  It  was  a  fair  opportunity  for  re- 
moving Sir  Henry  Hobart  from  the  place  of  Attorney, 
for  which  Bacon,  as  we  have  seen,  thought  him  very  ill 
suited  ;  but  who,  having  recovered  from  his  illness  was 
likely  to  hold  it  until  he  could  change  it  for  a  better. 
Bacon's  first  thought  seems  to  have  been  to  get  him  made 
Chief  Justice  in  Fleming's  place,  upon  wliich  his  own 
succes.sion  to  the  Attorneyship  could  hardly  have  failed 
to  follow,  his  claim  being  so  undeniable  and  his  help  so 
much  wanted  :  and  as  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  he 
would  lose  any  time  in  such  a  matter,  we  may  safely  con- 
clude that  the  following  letter  to  the  King  was  written 
on  or  about  the  7th  of  August,  1618. 

to  the  king. 

Tt  may  please  your  most  excellent  Majesty, — 
Ilaviiifr  understood  of  tlu^  death  of  the  Lord  Chief  Ju.s- 
tice,  I  do  ground  in  all  liuniblcncss  an  assured  liopc,  that 
your  Majesty  will  not  think  of  any  other  but  your  poor 
servauls,  your  attorney  and  your  solicitor  (one  of  them), 
for  that  j)l:iee.  ICIse  wet  shall  belike  NoalTs  dove,  not 
knowing  where;  to  rest  our  foot.  For  the  places  of  rest 
after  the  extreme  painful  places  wherein  we  serve  have 
used  to  be,  either  the  Lord   Chancellor's  place,  or   the 


1612-13]  DEATH  OF  SIR  THOMAS   FLEMING.  689 

mastership  of  the  Rolls,  or  the  places  of  the  two  chief 
justices  :  whereof,  for  the  first,  I  would  be  almost  loth  to 
live  to  see  this  worthy  counsellor  fail.  The  mastership  of 
the  Rolls  is  blocked  with  a  reversion.  My  Lord  Coke  is 
like  to  outlive  us  both.  So  as  if  this  turn  fail,  I  for  my 
part  know  not  wliither  to  look.  I  have  served  your 
Majesty  above  a  prenticehood,  full  seven  years  and  more, 
as  your  solicitor,  which  is,  I  think,  one  of  the  painfulest 
places  in  your  kingdom,  specially  as  my  employments 
have  been ;  and  God  hath  brought  mine  own  years  to 
fifty-two,  which  I  think  is  older  than  ever  any  solicitor 
continued  unpreferred.  My  suit  is  principally  that  you 
would  remove  Mr.  Attorney  to  the  place  ;  if  he  refuse, 
then  I  hope  your  Majesty  will  seek  no  furder  than  my- 
self, that  I  may  at  last,  out  of  your  Majesty's  grace  and 
favor,  step  forwards  to  a  place  either  of  more  comfort  or 
more  ease.  Besides,  how  necessary  it  is  for  your  Majesty 
to  strengthen  your  service  amongst  the  Judges  by  a 
Chief  Justice  which  is  sure  to  your  prerogative,  your 
Majesty's  knoweth.  Therefore  I  cease  furder  to  trouble 
your  Majesty,  humbly  craving  pardon,  and  relying  wholly 
upon  your  goodness  and  remembrance,  and  resting  in  all 
true  humbleness. 

Your  Majesty's  most  devoted 

and  faithful  subject  and  servant, 

Fk.  Bacon. 

Upon  further  reflection  it  occurred  to  him  that  still 
better  use  might  be  made  of  the  occasion.  The  Chief 
Justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  though  not  the  best  paid 
among  the  Judges,  was  the  highest  in  dignity  ;  and  as 
the  causes  with  which  that  court  had  to  deal  consisted 
of  offenses  against  the  Crown,  I  suppose  it  supplied  fewer 
occasions  for  inquiring  into  the  limits  of  the  Prerogative 
than  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  which  (dealing  with 
civil  suits)  was  continually  called  upon  to  adjudicate  in 

VOL.  I.  44 


690  LEGAL  PROMOTIONS.  [Book  IV. 

disputes  between  the  subject  and  the  King.  To  a  man 
of  Coke's  temper,  the  position  of  champion  and  captain 
of  the  Common  Law  in  its  battles  witli  Prerogative  was 
a  tempting  one.  His  behavior  as  Cliief  Justice  of  the 
Common  Pleas,  though  accompanied  with  no  alteration 
in  himself,  had  entirely  altered  his  character  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  people ;  transforming  him  from  the  most 
offensive  of  Attorney  Generals  into  tlie  most  admired 
and  venerated  of  Judges,  and  investing  him  with  a  popu- 
larity which  has  been  transmitted  without  diminution  to 
our  own  times,  and  is  not  likely  to  be  questioned.  For 
posterity,  having  inherited  the  fruits  of  his  life  and  being 
well  satisfied  with  what  it  has  got,  will  not  trouble  itself 
to  examine  the  bill,  which  was  paid  and  settled  long  ago. 
To  us,  looking  back  when  all  is  over,  the  cost  is  nothing. 
To  the  contemporary  statesmen,  however,  who  were  then 
looking  forth  into  the  dark  future  and  wondering  what 
the  shock  of  the  contending  forces  was  to  end  in,  his 
triumphs  were  of  more  doubtful  value.  To  some  of  them, 
even  if  they  could  have  foreseen  exactly  what  was  going 
to  happen,  the  prospect  would  not  have  been  inviting. 
A  civil  war,  a  public  execution  of  a  King  by  his  subjects 
for  treason  against  himself,  a  usurpation,  a  restoration, 
and  a  counter-revolution,  —  all  within  one  generation, — 
would  have  seemed  to  one  looking  forward  very  ugly 
items  in  the  successful  solution  of  a  national  difficulty  , 
and  th(jse  who  saw  in  Coke's  judicial  victories  the  be- 
ginning of  such  an  end  might  bo  pardoned  if  they  de- 
sired to  find  some  less  dangerous  employment  for  his 
virtues.  Now  if  he  could  be  raised  from  the  Common 
}*le!i8  rthe  ordinary  duties  of  which  ccmld  be  well  enough 
(lischargc^d  by  Sir  Henry  H(jbart)  to  the  King's  Bench, 
he  would  meet  witii  fewer  opportunities  of  collision  with 
the  Crown,  and  a  quieter  time  might  be  hoped  for.  And 
Raeon  who,  whether  Im  saw  to  the  end  or  n(jt,  was  obliged 
by  his  professional  duty  to  see  enougli  of  the  other  side 


1612-13.]  LEGAL  PROMOTIONS.  691 

of  all  these  disputed  questions  to  satisfy  biin  that  Coke's 
activity  was  not  all  for  good,  recommended  this  arrange- 
ment to  the  King.  Such  at  least  is  the  motive  for  it 
which  seems  to  me  most  probable.  I  know  it  has  been 
commonly  assumed  that  Bacon's  reason  for  recommend- 
ing, as  well  as  Coke's  for  deprecating,  the  change  was 
merely  or  chiefly  that  it  would  cause  a  loss  of  income. 
But  if  a  reduction  of  income  had  been  the  only  difference, 
I  doubt  whether  Bacon  would  have  thought  it  a  politic 
move.  In  so  wealthy  a  man  as  Coke  the  difference  of 
income  could  have  made  no  difference  in  reputation  ; 
while  the  rise  in  dignity  would  make  him  a  greater  man 
than  he  was  before.  And  though  to  Coke  himself,  as  a 
man  who  took  pleasure  in  growing  rich,  the  change  might 
be  on  that  account  unwelcome,  both  the  reluctance  with 
which  he  consented  to  his  elevation  and  the  emotion  with 
which  he  underwent  it,  seem  (if  they  have  not  been 
very  much  exaggerated  in  the  description)  to  have  been 
stronger  and  deeper  than  so  trivial  a  cause  would  natu- 
rally explain.  That  he  was  not  so  well  qualified  for  a 
Judge  in  criminal  as  in  civil  causes,  would  have  been  a 
worthier  ground  of  objection,  if  one  could  supjDOse  that 
he  was  aware  of  the  fact.  But  for  an  ambitious  man 
with  a  firm  belief  in  himself  and  his  own  virtue  to  leave 
a  post  in  which  he  acted  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  mon- 
archy, and  was  continually  brought  into  personal  collis- 
ion with  the  King  himself,  on  terms  of  advantage  and  in 
the  interest  of  what  he  believed  to  be  the  constitution  — 
this  might  well  be  a  matter  of  deep  and  serious  regret. 
While  on  the  other  hand,  to  a  man  who  thought,  as  Ba- 
con did,  that  he  was  upsetting  the  consiitution  on  the 
other  side,  his  removal  from  such  a  post  would  naturally 
seem  to  be  a  piece  of  good  service  to  the  country  as  well 
as  to  the  King ;  nor  was  there  any  objection  to  his  being 
made  greater,  if  at  the  same  time  he  were  made  more 
harmless. 


692    PARLIAMENTARY   GOVERNMENT  IN  IRELAND.       [Book  IV. 

In  this  case,  Bacon's  advice  was  adopted  in  all  points 
but  one.  Coke  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  England :  Ho- 
bart  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  :  himself  Attor- 
ney General,  and  Yelverton  Solicitor.  Only  instead  of 
hanging  out  tlie  lioije  of  a  Privy  Councillors  place  as  an 
inducement  to  Coke  to  be  more  conformable  ("  My  Lord 
Coke,"  he  had  said  to  the  King,  "  will  think  himself 
near  a  Privy  Councillor's  place,  and  thereupon  turn  ob- 
sequious "),  the  King  made  him  a  Privy  Councillor  at 
once,  which  had  a  very  different  effect. 

While  the  Government  in  England  was  thus  struggling 
\vith  the  difficulties  incident  to  the  Parliamentar}^  system 
at  home,  a  great  experiment  was  in  progress  for  the  in- 
troduction of  Parliamentary  government  into  Ireland ; 
an  experiment  very  remarkable,  when  the  condition  of 
things  and  the  state  of  opinion  in  both  countries  is  con- 
sidered, and  very  creditable  in  my  judgment  both  to  the 
advisers  and  to  those  who  adopted  the  advice. 

If  the  Reformation  had  taken  the  same  hold  of  the 
native  population  in  Ireland  as  in  England  and  Scotland, 
the  case  would  have  been  manageable.  But  while  of  two 
religions  mutually  intolerant  and  aggressive,  the  govern- 
ment professed  one  and  the  people  the  other,  a  Parlia- 
ment which  fairly  represented  the  people  was  not  an  in- 
strument by  means  of  which  government  could  have  been 
carried  on.  Protestants  still  hoped  that  with  the  help  of 
the  English  and  Scotch  colonists  the  nation  would  ulti- 
mately be  brought  round  to  the  true  faith.  But  until 
that  wen;  :iccomplish(Hl,  a  truly  representative  Parliament 
in  Ir.'i.ind  wouM  \h\  in  effect  a  Roman  Catholic  Par- 
liament ;  l)ctW(M'n  wliich  and  tlu;  Puritan  ParlianuMit 
of  England  wlmt  could  be  expected  but  discord  ?  But 
though  the  Catlxilic  party  could  not  be  allowed  to  hav(i 
a  Parliamentary  vuijoritij  (seeing  that  tlu;  (iovernment 
could  not  b(!  other  than  I'rotestant,  and  (constitutional 
goveniuient   with   a    majniily  against  it  is  an   impossibil- 


1612-13.]     PARLIAMENTARY  GOVERNMENT   IN    IKKLANU.  693 

ity),  tliere  was  no  reason  why  they  should  not  have  a 
Parhamentar}^  representation.  An  opposition  may  have 
much  influence  in  a  legisUitive  assembly,  although  it  be 
in  a  minority  :  and  it  was  better  for  Ireland  to  be  gov- 
erned by  a  Parliament  in  which  the  Catholics  had  a  con- 
siderable though  not  an  overruling  voice,  than  to  be 
governed  without  any  Parliament  at  all ;  which  was  the 
alternative.  For  that  Ireland  should  be  governed  by 
England  was  a  necessity  imposed  by  the  nature  of  things  ; 
it  being  her  misfortune  to  be  so  placed  in  the  world  as 
to  form  a  military  position,  which  England  was  obliged 
for  her  own  security  to  take  and  hold.  And  if  she  was 
to  have  the  benefit  of  a  Parliament,  it  must  be  one  in 
which  England  could  command  a  majority. 

In  some  respects  the  state  of  things  was  favorable  for 
the  experiment.  The  existing  Parliamentary  constitution 
of  Ireland  was,  upon  any  view  of  the  case,  inadequate  to 
the  existing  condition  of  the  population.  At  the  acces- 
sion of  Elizabeth  there  were  some  fifteen  counties,  each 
sending  two  knights  to  the  Lower  House,  and  containing 
among  them  some  thirty  boroughs,  each  of  which  sent 
its  two  burgesses.  In  the  course  of  her  reign  the  rest  of 
the  island  was  converted  into  "  shire-ground,"  as  it  was 
called,  and  the  represented  counties  were  increased  by 
seventeen ;  but  in  these  there  was  no  borough  representa- 
tion at  all.  Wiien  James  took  the  business  in  hand,  lie 
found  that  among  the  representatives  of  the  counties,  old 
and  new  together,  the  government  could  reckon  upon  a 
small  majority ;  but  that  the  old  boroughs  (being  mostly 
in  the  South,  where  English  colonization  had  not  pros- 
pered) turned  the  balance  against  them.  The  natural 
and  apparently  the  fair  remedy  for  this  was  to  erect 
within  the  new  counties  of  the  North,  where  lay  the 
present  strength  and  future  hopes  of  Protestantism,  their 
fair  proportion  of  new  b  )roughs.  And  this  remedy  he 
now  resolved  to  try.     His  right  to  erect  boroughs  where 


G94      PARLIAMENTARY   GOVERNMENT   IN   IRELAND.      [Book  IV 

he  pleased  does  not  appear  to  have  been  disputed,  and  I 
do  not  think  he  can  be  justly  charged  with  making  an 
intemperate  use  of  it.  The  selection  of  the  places  was 
left  to  Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  who  best  understood  the 
state  of  the  country  ;  and  though  care  was  of  course 
taken  to  make  such  a  selection  as  would  secure  the  re- 
turn of  a  Protestant  majority,  yet  the  fact  that  upon  the 
first  fair  trial  of  strength  between  the  two  parties  the  op- 
position mustered  97  in  a  house  of  224,  proves  that  the 
Catholic  party  was  by  no  means  reduced  to  insignificance. 
That  they  would  be  satisfied  with  a  constitution  which 
placed  them  in  a  minority  at  all,  was  not  indeed  to  be 
expected ;  they  would  have  preferred  no  doubt  to  govern 
themselves  for  themselves,  without  reference  to  England. 
But  that  could  not  be.  In  the  mean  time  they  had  a 
stroke  in  the  management  of  their  affairs  which  was  not 
to  be  despised.  Compare  the  numbers,  and  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  native  element  had  a  voice  in  the  national 
counsels  very  much  more  powerful  than  we  allow  to  it 
ncnv.  At  this  day,  if  all  the  Irish  members  were  to  vote 
as  one  man  against  a  bill  in  the  House  of  Commons,  it 
might  nevertheless  be  carried  against  them  by  a  majority 
of  five  to  one.  Under  the  constitution  as  thus  reformed 
by  James,  the  Irish  party  (even  if  we  assume  that  not  a 
single  Irish  member,  properly  so  called,  voted  with  the 
government)  could  not  be  defeated  by  a  majority  of 
more  than  seven  to  three. 

In  the  spring  of  1613,  all  things  were  at  length  ready 
fur  tlie  experiment;  the  bills  prepared,  transmitted  to 
England,  revised  by  the  Council,  and  returned  under  the 
(ireat  Seal  ;  license  grantcnl  to  summon  and  hold  Parlia- 
ment;  members  elected,  and  the  meeting  fixed  for  the 
iHth  of  May.  "I  wish,"  said  Chichester,  writing  to 
Sir  John  Davics  in  the  previous  August,  "we  might 
carry  it,  and  i)revail  in  tlie  matters  to  be  handled  in  this 
Parliament,  as  is  belioveful  for  his   Majesty's  service  and 


IG12-13.]     SECESSION  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MEMBERS      G95 

good  of  the  kingdom  ;  but  I  doubt  there  will  be  great 
opposition  to  all  that  is  good,  and  we  must  encounter 
them  the  best  we  may."  A  quiet  start  was  hardly  to  be 
hoped  for,  and  it  was  perhaps  lucky  that  the  opposition 
made  a  false  one,  which  put  them  unmistakably  in  the 
wrong.  The  first  business  was  to  elect  a  Speaker.  Sir 
John  Davies,  having  been  recommended  b}^  the  Deputy, 
was  duly  proposed  in  the  House,  and  (the  motion  being 
opposed)  was  elected  on  a  division  by  127  to  97.  But 
the  Noes,  who  remained  in  the  House  while  the  Ayes 
went  out,  took  the  opportunity  of  their  absence  to  elect 
their  own  man  and  seat  him  in  the  chair  ;  from  which 
the  majority,  when  they  returned,  had  some  difficulty  in 
dislodging  him.  Being,  however,  a  majority,  they  suc- 
ceeded by  the  use  of  natural  forces  in  removing  the  in- 
truder and  planting  Sir  John  Davies  bodily  in  his  place, 
and  so  settled  that  question,  leaving  to  the  dissentients 
no  choice  but  submission  or  secession.  They  chose  seces- 
sion. Acting  in  concert  with  the  members  of  their  party 
in  the  Upper  House,  they  refused  to  take  their  places 
unless  the  members  for  the  new  boroughs  should  be  se- 
questered from  the  House  until  their  elections  had  been 
examined.  And  as  that  could  not  be,  they  requested  that 
the  matter  might  be  referred  to  the  King  and  that  they 
might  send  a  deputation  to  plead  their  cause  before  him. 
The  request,  upon  the  recommendation  of  Chichester, 
was  granted,  and  in  July,  1618,  the  case  was  heard  be- 
fore the  King  and  Council  with  extraordinary  patience 
and  indulgence.  The  complainants  were  not  limited  to 
matters  which  bore  upon  the  justification  of  the  act  in 
question,  such  as  the  character  of  the  new  boroughs,  the 
mode  of  the  elections,  the  constitution  of  the  House,  or 
the  order  of  proceeding  in  it :  but  were  allowed  to  put  in 
budget  after  budget  of  miscellaneous  grievances,  extend- 
ing over  the  whole  field  of  Irish  government.  Nor  were 
any  of  these  set  aside  as  irrelevant.     Every  kind  of  alle- 


696         INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  IRISH  TROUBLES.         [Book  IV. 

gation  was  received  and  listened  to  which  would  have 
been  fit  to  bring  before  a  committee  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  general  grievances  of  the  Commonwealth  ;  and 
so  far  was  the  indulgence  carried  that  the  discussions 
ended  in  a  resolution  to  send  four  Commissioners  over  to 
Ireland  with  instructions  to  investigate  them  all  upon  the 
spot. 

I  do  not  find  that  Bacon  had  anything  to  do  either 
with  the  project  of  calling  this  Irish  ParHaraent  or  with 
the  measures  taken  by  way  of  preparation  ;  nor  do  I  re- 
member in  any  of  his  own  papers  of  advice  about  Ireland 
any  allusion  to  an  Irish  Parliament  as  a  convenient  in- 
strument for  the  cure  of  existing  evils.  I  have  no  doubt, 
however,  that  when  the  King  had  gone  so  far,  he  would 
have  advised  him  to  go  through  with  it;  and  it  may 
have  been  in  consequence  of  his  remarks  upon  these  in- 
structions (as  originally  drawn  in  his  absence  by  the 
Attorney  General),  that  they  were  afterwards  divided 
into  two  distinct  sets,  —  the  first  "  concerning  matters  of 
Parliament,"  the  second  "  concerning  the  general  griev- 
ances of  the  kingdom." 

On  the  12th  of  November  the  Commissioners  sent  in  their 
report.  Undue  elections  in  two  cases,  —  a  iew  members 
returned  by  boroughs  erected  subsequently  to  the  issue  of 
the  writs,  or  otherwise  not  duly  entitled,  —  and  consider- 
able oppressions  on  the  part  of  the  soldiers  (though  with- 
out the  countenance  or  knowledge  of  the  Government), 
—  seem  to  have  been  the  sum  of  what  they  found  sub- 
stantiated. And  since  for  all  such  complaints  redress 
might  have  been  sought  in  an  orderly  way,  the  comphiin- 
ants  HMuainc'd  without  any  ])huisible  justification  of  their 
late.  proce(!ding,  and  were  obliged  to  submit.  The  seat 
of  the  disorder  was  indeed  beyond  the  reach  of  argument 
or  conciliation,  and  tlie  present  settlement  was  far  from 
bi.'ing  a  cure;  but  the  Government  so  far  prevailed  for 
the   time  as   to   inainlain   tiirii-  ground   and   try  their  ex- 


1G12-13.]      OKDEUS  TAKEN  UPON  COMMISSIOXEKS'  liEPORT.      697 

periment.  The  patience  with  wliich  the  remonstrants 
had  been  heard  and  the  concessions  which  they  had  ob- 
tained, in  the  very  stronghold  of  the  enemy,  had  shown 
them  that  to  be  in  a  minority  was  not  to  be  powerless, 
and  reconciled  them  to  a  trial  of  their  strength  in  fair 
Parliamentary  debate.  It  was  not  till  the  12th  of  April 
1614,  that  the  King  gave  his  formal  answer  to  their  com- 
plaints, and  some  months  more  had  to  pass  before  the 
directions  were  issued  which  the  report  of  the  Commis- 
sioners rendered  necessary.  But  all  was  done  in  tim<\ 
Eisfht  of  the  new  boroughs  had  been  erected  subsic- 
quently  to  the  writs  of  summons  to  the  Parliament ; 
from  two  others  there  had  been  false  returns  :  and  there 
were  three  besides  which  had  no  title  to  be  represented 
at  all.  Orders  wei'e  accordingly  issued  that  none  of  the 
burgesses  returned  from  any  of  these  should  take  their 
seats  in  the  present  House.  And  at  the  same  time  a  bill 
for  the  banishment  of  Catholic  priests  (which  was  to 
have  been  proposed,  and  the  apprehension  of  which  is 
believed  to  have  been  the  real  cause  of  the  commotion) 
WHS  withdrawn.  On  these  conditions  the  seceding  mem- 
bei-s  consented  to  take  their  places  when  the  Parliament 
sliould  be  re-assembled,  to  admit  the  representatives  of 
the  new  boroughs  as  lawful  members  of  the  House,  and 
(T  suppose)  to  withdraw  the  objection  which  they  had 
originally  made  against  the  boroughs  themselves,  as  be- 
ing too  small  and  poor  to  furnish  either  constituencies  or 
representatives  of  decent  quality.  For  it  is  to  be  ob- 
served that  this  part  of  the  grievance,  though  it  held  the 
most  prominent  place  in  the  first  complaints  and  was  in 
itself  (if  truly  alleged)  by  far  the  weightiest  and  most 
serious,  —  for  the  others  were  functional  and  temporary, 
whereas  this  was  organic  and  permanent,  —  was  left  un- 
redressed, and  yet  no  more  noise  was  made  about  it.  To 
Conclude  from  this  that  the  objection  had  been  with- 
drawn as  unfounded  would  perhaps  be  too  much.      But 


G08    ORDERS  TAKEN  UPON  COMMISSIONERS' REPORT.    [Book  IV. 

in  the  absence  of  all  evidence  as  to  tlie  fact,  otlier  than 
sweeping  assertions  by  parties  who  were  not  always  care- 
ful to  weigh  their  words  (for  the  question  was  not  in- 
cluded among  those  referred  to  the  Commissioners  for 
investigation),  it  is  but  fair  to  place  by  the  side  of  the 
complaint  the  answer  which  the  King  gave  to  it;  from 
which  it  will  be  seen  that  though  the  places  may  have 
been  poor,  the  selection  of  them  for  boroughs  may  nev- 
ertheless have  been  politic,  as  tending  to  draw  wealth 
and  population  towards  the  parts  where  it  was  wanted. 
"  Because  the  eye  of  the  master  doth  make  the  horse 
iat  "  (said  the  King),  "I  have  used  mine  own  eyes  in 
taking  a  view  of  those  boroughs,  and  have  seen  a  list  of 
Ihem  all.  God  is  my  judge,  I  find  the  new  boroughs, 
except  one  or  two,  to  be  as  good  as  many  of  the  old 
boroughs,  comparing  Irish  boroughs  new  with  Irish 
boroughs  old,  for  I  will  not  speak  of  the  boroughs  of 
other  countries :  and  yet  besides  the  necessity  of  making 
them,  I  find  them  like  to  increase  and  grow  better  daily. 
I  find  besides,  but  few  erected  in  each  county,  and  in 
many  counties  but  one  borough  onl}^ ;  and  those  erected 
in  fit  and  conveiiient  places,  near  forts  and  passages  for 
the  safety  of  the  country.  Methinks  you  that  seek  the 
good  of  the  kingdom  should  be  glad  of  it.  I  caused  Lon- 
don also  to  erect  boroughs  there,  which  when  they  are 
thoroughly  j)lanted  will  be  a  great  security  for  that  part 
of  the  kingdom  ;  therefore  you  quarrel  at  that  which 
miiy  bring  peace;  to  the  country." 

The  reluctance  of  Coke  to  be  promoted  to  the  Cliief 
Justiceship  of  England  was  at  length  overcome,  and  tlie 
other  changes  followed  according  to  Bacon's  suggestion. 
"  On  Monday,"  says  Chamberlain,  writing  to  Carleton 
on  Wednesday  the  27th  of  October,  "  the  Lord  Coke 
("though  never  so  loth)  was  called  up  into  the  King's 
Bench,  and  tliere  sworn  Chief  Justice.  He  parted  dole- 
fully from  the  Common  Pleas,  not  only  weeping  himself, 


1612-13.]      BACON  MADE  ATTORNEY  GENERAL.        699 

but  followed  with  the  tears  of  all  that  Bench,  and  most 
of  the  officers  of  that  Court.  The  next  day  Sir  H.  Ho- 
bart  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  Sir 
Francis  Bacon  Attorney,  and  Yelverton  Solicitor.  There 
is  a  strong  apprehension  that  little  good  is  to  be  expected 
by  this  change,  and  that  Bacon  may  prove  a  dangerous 
instrument." 

It  was  probably  at  this  time  that  Bacon  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  the  King ;  which  comes  from  the  col- 
lection at  Lambeth.  It  is  a  copy  or  draft  very  hastily 
written  in  his  own  hand,  and  has  no  date.  But  it  evi- 
dently refers  to  some  promotion,  and  the  word  "  procura- 
tion "  is  most  proper  to  the  place  of  Attorney  General. 

TO   THE   KING. 

It  may  please  your  Ma.,  —  A  full  heart  is  like  a 
full  pen ;  it  can  hardly  make  any  distinguished  work. 
The  more  I  look  into  mine  own  weakness  the  more  I  must 
magnify  your  favors,  and  the  more  I  behold  your  favors 
the  more  I  must  consider  mine  own  weakness.  This  is 
my  hope,  that  God  who  hath  moved  your  heart  to  favor 
me  will  write  your  service  in  my  heart.  Two  things  I 
may  promise ;  for  though  they  be  not  mine  own  j^et  thev 
are  surer  than  mine  own,  because  they  are  God's  gifts ; 
that  is  integrity  and  industry.  And  therefore  whenso- 
ever I  shall  make  my  account  to  you,  I  shall  do  it  in 
these  words,  ecce  tihi  lucrifeci,  and  not  ecce  mihi  lucrifeci. 
And  for  industry,  I  shall  take  to  me  in  this  procuration 
not  Martha's  part,  to  be  busied  in  many  things,  but 
Mary's  part,  which  [is]  to  intend  your  service ;  for  the 
less  my  abilities  are  the  more  they  ought  to  be  contracted 
ad  unum.  For  the  present  I  humbly  pray  your  Majesty 
to  accept  my  most  humble  thanks  and  vows  as  the  fore- 
runners of  honest  services  which  I  shall  always  perform 
*vith  a  faithful  heart. 

Your  Majesty's  most  obedient  servant, 

Fr.  Bacon. 


700  COKE  MADK   PKIVV   COL'XCILLOK.  [Book  IV 

To  reconcile  Coke  to  his  elevation,  the  King  had  been 
obliged  to  promise  that  "if  he  would  accept  it,  he  should 
do  it  with  as  much  honor  as  ever  an}^  one  went  to  that 
place  ; "  which  was  understood  to  be  a  promise  of  a 
conncillorship  at  the  least.  And  accordingly  on  the  7th 
<tf  Novembei-,  as  we  learn  from  the  same  authority,  "the 
I^ord  Coke  (with  many  good  and  gracious  words)  was 
sworn  a  Privy  Councillor  ;  which  honor  no  man  envies 
him,  if  he  keep  in  his  right  course,  and  turn  not  to  be  At- 
torney again." 

The  occasion  on  which  he  received  this  last  distinction 
was  the  ceremonial  of  creating  Viscount  Rochester  Earl 
of  Somerset ;  in  preparation  for  his  marriage  W'ith  Lady 
Essex,  whose  divorce  from  her  husband  had  at  last  been 
legally  accomplished.  The  proceedings  in  this  case  had 
kept  both  the  Commissioners  and  the  King  very  busy 
during  the  whole  summer ;  but  as  Bacon  had  no  part  in 
them,  either  direct  or  indirect,  I  am  happily  relieved  from 
the  duty  of  saying  more  about  them.  Such  a  case  could 
not  be  known  to  be  going  on  without  giving  rise  at  the 
time  to  much  discussion,  many  rumors,  and  strong  feel- 
ings ;  and  the  curiosity  of  posterity  has  been  gratified 
by  abundant  details.  But  what  the  outside  world  kneiv 
about  it  at  the  time,  was  only  that  after  long  investiga- 
1i(m  and  argument  before  judges  whose  character  and 
competency  were  not  disputed,  tlie  majority  had  ])ro- 
nounced  the  previous  marriage  null  and  void.  Not  hav- 
ing heiird  the  case,  the  public  had  not  the  means  of  crit- 
icising the  judgment;  and  therefore  even  if  it  would 
have  been  otherwise  their  duty  to  judge  the  judges,  it 
could  not  be  their  duty  in  this  case  at  this  time.  "The 
marriage  twixt  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  the  Lady  Frances 
Howard  is  dissolved"  (writes  Chamberlain  on  the  14th  of 
October),  "and  ])ronoiniced  a  nullity,  by  the  Bishop  of 
Winclu'ster,  who  with  tin;  liishop  of  UocheHtiM'  were  only 
^upf•rnu^le^arv  to  the  (irst  crunrnissinni'rs.  and  so  cast  the 


1612-13.]  BACON'S  RELATIONS   WITH  SOMERSET.  701 

balance  by  weight  of  numbers,  being  seven  to  five.  The 
morning  that  the  matter  was  to  be  decided,  the  King  sent 
express  commandment  that  in  opening  they  should  not 
argue  nor  use  any  reasons,  but  only  give  their  assent  or 
dissent ;  and  in  the  sentence  there  is  no  cause  expressed 
but  in  these  terms ;  propter  latens  et  incurabile  impedi- 
ment iim." 

It  is  but  fair  to  the  world  of  rank,  wealth,  fashion,  and 
business,  which  hastened  soon  after  to  congratulate  the 
bride  and  bridegroom  with  gifts  unprecedented  in  number 
and  value,  to  remember  that  this  was  the  result  of  the 
inquiry  as  far  as  it  was  made  known  to  them.  It  does 
not  follow  that  they  would  have  done  the  same  if  they 
had  known  what  we  know. 

The  marriage  took  place  on  the  26th  of  December, 
and  the  festivities  continued  until  Twelfth  Night,  when 
they  were  wound  up  with  a  coraplimentar}'  offering  from 
Bacon  :  an  offering  so  costly,  considering  how  little  he 
owed  to  Rochester  and  how  superficial  their  intercourse 
had  been,  and  at  the  same  time  so  peculiar,  that  it  re- 
quires explanation. 

The  sort  of  terms  upon  which  Bacon  stood  with  Roch- 
ester may  be  inferred  from  the  single  letter  which  is 
known  to  have  passed  between  them,  a  remembrance  of 
his  claims  to  the  Mastership  of  the  Wards,  then  vacant 
by  the  death  of  Sir  George  Gary,  —  which  is  chiefly  re- 
markable for  the  absence  of  everything  that,  according  to 
the  common  view  of  his  character,  might  have  been  ex- 
pected on  such  an  occasion  in  a  letter  to  the  man  who 
had  been  the  King's  personal  favorite  for  many  years 
and  had  greater  influence  with  him  then  than  ever  be- 
fore. "  If  it  should,  in  a  middle  region,  go  to  lawyers, 
then  I  beseech  your  lordship  have  some  care  of  me." 
It  is  not  possible,  indeed,  to  suppose  that  there  had  ever 
been  any  intimacy  between  them  — any  confidential  cor- 
respondence or  any  interchange  of  services.     Such  a  rela- 


702  BACON'S  RELATIONS   WITH  SOMERSET.  [Hook  IV. 

tiou  could  not  have  subsisted  between  so  considerable  a 
man  as  Bacon  and  so  great  a  person  as  Rochester,  whom 
everybody  was  talking  of  and  looking  at,  without  being 
observed  and  remembered.  If  Bacon  had  had  any  influ- 
ence with  the  man  who  for  the  last  five  or  six  years  had 
kept  the  gate  of  the  King's  affections,  he  must  have  had 
very  frequent  occasions  to  use  it  —  and  to  use  it  in  a  way 
which  w^as  sure  to  leave  traces.  The  one  letter  about  the 
Mastership  of  the  Wards  would  have  been  one  of  many 
such.  But  there  is  no  trace  of  anything  of  the  kind.  On 
the  contrary,  when  he  wants  the  King's  favorable  ear,  he 
wi'ites  to  the  King  himself,  and  begs  that  it  may  be  in 
private.  It  seems,  however,  that  hi  his  recent  promotion 
to  the  Attorney  Generalship,  Rochester  had  put  himself 
forward  as  his  patron.  "  I  must  never  forget,"  says  Ba- 
con, writing  to  the  King  about  two  years  after,  "  when  I 
moved  your  Majesty  for  the  Attorney's  place,  it  was  your 
own  sole  act ;  more  than  that  Somerset,  when  he  knew 
your  Majesty  had  resolved  it,  thrust  himself  into  the 
business  for  a  fee."  Now  if,  as  I  suppose,  he  stood  on 
terms  of  courtesy  with  Somerset,  though  not  of  affection, 
respect,  or  confidence,  it  must  have  been  unpleasant  to 
owe  even  a  seeming  and  pretended  obligation  to  him. 
The  approaching  marriage  gave  him  an  opportunity  to 
j)ay  it  off.  While  all  the  world  were  making  presents, 
—  one  of  plate,  aliother  of  furniture,  a  third  of  horses, 
a  fourth  of  gold,  —  he  chose  to  pi'esent  a  masque  :  for 
which  (if  I  have  succeeded  in  filling  up  the  blanks  in  the 
story  correctly)  an  accident  supplied  him  with  a  hand- 
some opportunity.  The  year  before,  on  oconsion  of  the 
marriage:  of  the  Lady  Elizabeth,  two  joint-masques  had 
been  pnisentcd  by  the  Inns  of  Court, — one  by  the  INIid- 
dle  Tem])le  and  Lincoln's  Inn,  the  other  by  Gray's  Inn 
and  the  Inner  Temple.  On  th(^  present  occasion  it  had 
been  propo.scd  that  all  the  four  Inns  of  Court  should  join 
in  g(!tting  up  a  masque.      But  it  could  not  be  managed*. 


1612-13.]  BACON'S  RELATIONS   WITH   SOMERSKT,  70^3 

whereupon    Bacon  offered  on  the  part  of  Gray's  Inn  to 
supply  the  place  of  it  by  a  masque  of  their  own. 

All  this,  except  the  date  (which  must  be  matter  of 
conjecture),  appears  from  a  letter  which,  though  the 
direction  has  been  torn  off  with  the  flyleaf,  I  have  no 
doubt  was  addressed  to  Somerset  on  this  occasion.  It  is 
a  single  leaf,  and  contains  only  the  following  words  writ- 
ten in  Bacon's  hand  :  — 

It  may  please  youe  good  L.,  —  I  am  sorry  the  joint 
masque  from  the  four  Inns  of  Court  failed ;  wherein  I 
conceive  there  is  no  other  ground  of  that  event  but  im- 
possibility. Nevertheless,  because  it  falleth  out  that  at 
this  time  Gray's  Inn  is  well  furnished  of  gallant  young 
gentlemen,  your  L.  may  be  pleased  to  know  that  rather 
than  this  occasion  shall  pass  without  some  demonstration 
of  affection  from  the  Inns  of  Court,  there  are  a  dozen 
gentlemen  of  Gray's  Inn  that  out  of  the  honor  which 
they  bear  to  your  Lordship  and  my  Lord  Chamberlain, 
to  whom  at  their  last  masque  they  were  so  much  bounden, 
will  be  ready  to  furnish  a  masque  ;  wishing  it  were  in 
their  powers  to  perform  it  according  to  their  minds. 
And  so  for  the  present  I  humbly  take  my  leave,  resting 
Your  Ls  very  humbly 

and  much  bounden 

Fr.  Bacon. 

The  Lord  Chamberlain  was  the  Earl  of  Suffolk,  who 
was  the  bride's  father :  so  that  everything  seems  to  fit. 
But  though  Bacon  speaks  of  it  as  a  compliment  from 
Gray's  Inn,  Gray's  Inn  was  in  reality  to  furnish  only 
the  performers  and  the  composers.  The  care  and  the 
charges  were  to  be  undertaken  by  himself ;  as  we  learn 
from  a  news-letter  of  Chamberlain's,  whose  information 
is  almost  always  to  be  relied  upon.  Writing  on  the  23d 
of  December,  1613,  he  says  :  — 


704  "THE  MASQUE  OF   FLOWERS."  [Book  IV. 

«  Sir  Francis  Bacon  prepares  a  masque  to  honor  this  mar- 
riage, which  will  stand  him  in  above  £2,000.  And  though  he 
have  been  offered  some  help  by  the  House,  and  specially  by  Mr. 
Solicitor,  Sir  Henry  Yelverton,  who  would  have  sent  him  £500, 
yet  he  would  not  accept  it,  but  offers  them  the  whole  charge 
with  the  honor.  Marry  his  obligations  are  such,  as  well  to  his 
Majesty  as  to  the  great  Lord  and  to  the  whole  house  of  How- 
ards, as  he  can  admit  no  partner." 

The  nature  of  the  obligation  considered,  it  will  be 
Been  that  there  was  judgment  as  well  as  magnificence  in 
the  choice  of  the  retribution.  The  obligation  (whether 
real  or  not)  being  for  assistance  in  obtaining  an  office,  to 
repay  it  by  any  present  which  could  be  turned  into 
money  would  have  been  objectionable,  as  tending  to 
countenance  the  great  abuse  of  the  times  (from  which 
Bacon  so  far  stands  quite  clear)  —the  sale  of  offices  for 
money.  There  was  no  such  objection  to  a  masque.  As 
a  compliment,  it  was  splendid,  according  to  the  taste  and 
magnificence  of  the  time ;  costly  to  the  giver,  not  nego- 
tiable by  the  receiver  ;  valuable  as  a  compliment,  but  as 
nothing  else.  Nor  was  its  value  in  that  kind  limited  to 
the  parties  in  whose  honor  it  was  given.  It  conferred 
great  distinction  upon  Gray's  Inn,  in  a  field  in  which 
Gray's  Inn  was  ambitious  and  accustomed  to  shine. 

The  piec.^  performed  was  published  shortly  after,  with 
a  dedication  to  Bacon,  as  "  the  principal  and  in  effect  the 
only  person  that  did  both  encounige  and  warrant  the 
gentlemen  to  show  their  good  affection  towards  so  noble 
a  conjunction  in  a  time  of  such  magnificence;  wherem" 
(they  add)  "  we  conceive,  without  giving  you  false  attri- 
butes, which  little  need  where  so  many  are  true,  that 
you  liave  graced  in  general  the  Societies  of  the  Inns  of 
Court,  in  continuing  them  still  as  third  persons  with  the 
Nobility  and  Court  in  doing  the  King  honor  ;  and  partic- 
nhu-ly  Gray's  Inn,  which  as  you  have  formerly  brought 
to  flourish  both  in  the   ancienter  and   younger  sort,  by 


1612-13.]  "THE  MASQUE  OF  FLOWERS."  705 

countenancing  virtue  in  every  quality,  so  now  j^ou  luive 
made  a  notable  demonstration  thereof  in  the  lighter  ^  and 
less  serious  kind,  by  this,  that  one  Inn  of  Court  by  itself 
in  time  of  a  vacation,  and  in  the  space  of  three  weeks, 
could  perforin  that  which  hath  been  performed  ;  which 
could  not  have  been  done  but  that  every  man's  exceed- 
ing love  and  respect  to  you  gave  him  wings  to  overtake 
Time,  which  is  the  swiftest  of  things."  The  dedicators 
(whom  I  suppose  to  be  the  authors)  sign  themselves  J. 
G.,  W.  D.,  and  T.  B.  :  and  from  an  allusion  to  their 
"  graver  studies  "  appear  to  have  been  members  of  the 
Society.  It  is  entitled  "  The  Masque  of  Flowers,"  and 
maybe  seen  in  Nichols's  "Progresses,"  —  a  very  splendid 
trifle,  and  answering  very  well  to  the  general  description 
in  Bacon's  Essays  of  what  a  Masque  should  be,  —  with 
its  loud  and  cheerful  music,  abundance  of  light  and  color, 
graceful  motions  and  forms,  and  such  things  as  "  do  nat- 
urally take  the  sense,"  —  but  having  no  personal  ref- 
erence to  the  occasion,  beyond  being  an  entertainment 
given  in  honor  of  a  marriage,  and  ending  with  an  offer- 
ing of  flowers  to  the  bride  and  bridegroom. 

Of  serious  business,  the  first  piece  that  Bacon  found 
waiting  for  him  in  his  new  office  was  an  attempt  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  practice  of  duelling,  which  had  become  alarm- 
ingly fashionable.  "  Though  there  be  in  show  a  settled 
peace  in  these  parts  of  the  world,"  writes  Chamberlain 
on  the  9th  of  September,  "  yet  the  many  private  quar- 
rels among  great  men  prognosticate  troubled  humors, 
which  may  breed  dangerous  diseases,  if  they  be  not 
purged  and  prevented.  I  doubt  not  but  you  have  heard 
the  success  of  the  combat  'twixt  Edward  Sackville  and 
the  Lord  Bruce  (or  Kinlos),  'twixt  Antwerp  and  Lille, 
wherein  they  were  both  hurt,  the  Lord  Bruce  to  the 
death,  so  that  Sackville  was  driven  to  take  sanctuary, 
whence  by  corruption  or  connivance  I  hear  he  is  escaped. 

1  Printed  "later." 
VOL.  I.  45 


706  THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  DUELS.  [Book  IV. 

Here  is  speech  likewise  that  the  Lord  Norris  and  Sir 
Pereo-rine  Willoughby  are  gone  forth  for  the  same  pur- 
pose, and  that  the  Lord  Cbandos  and  the  Lord  Hay  are 
upon  the  same  terms.  There  was  a  quarrel  kindling 
'twixt  the  Earls  of  Rutland  and  Montgomery  :  but  it  was 
quickly  quenched  by  the  King,  being  begun  and  ended  in 
his  presence.  But  there  is  more  danger  'twixt  the  Earl 
of  Rutland  and  the  Lord  Davers,  though  I  heard  yester- 
day it  was  already,  or  upon  the  point  of  compounding. 
But  that  which  most  men  listen  after,  is  what  will  fall 
out  'twixt  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  Mr.  Henry  Howard, 
who  is  challenged  and  called  to  account  by  the  Earl 
for  certain  disgraceful  speeclies  of  him.  They  are  both 
gotten   over,  the  Earl  from   Milford    Haven,  the  other 

from  Harwich,  with  each  of  them  two  seconds 

The  last  news  of  them  was  that  the  Earl  was  at  Calais 
and  the  other  in  Zealand.  The  King  hath  sent  a  post 
to  Calais  to  the  Governor,  to  stay  them  or  either  of  them, 
and  young  Gib  of  the  bed-chamber  is  sent  with  com- 
mandment from  the  King  to  them  both,  if  he  come  in 
time." 

On  this  last  occasion  the  King  published  a  Proclama- 
tion of  his  own  composition,  and  then  took  advice  witli 
his  lawyers  as  to  the  measures  which  should  be  taken  to 
put  a  stop  to  this  practice.  An  undated  paper,  print(Ml 
in  the  first  edition  of  Daliymple's  "  Memorials  and  Let- 
ters," from  an  original  in  Bacon's  handwriting,  belongs  I 
suppose  to  this  tim(i  and  occasion.  Whether  it  was  be- 
fore or  after  the  King's  proclamation  (wliieh  cnme  out 
near  the  end  of  October)  I  cannot  determine,  for  I  do 
not  know  wh«!re  a  copy  of  that  proclamation  is  to  be 
found.  Nor  does  it  much  matter,  for  this  papcu*  evidently 
contains  either  Bacon's  answer  to  the  King's  question, 
what  HJiould  be  done  for  tlie  ])revention  of  the  practice 
generally,  or  a  suggestion  of  his  own  to  the  same  effect. 


1612-13.]     PROPOSITION  FOR  THE  SUPPllESSION  OF  DUELS.      707 

A  PROPOSITION  FOR  THE  REPRESSING  OF  SINGULAR 
COMBATS    OR   DUELS. 

First,  for  the  ordinance  which  his  Majesty  may  estab- 
Hsh  herein,  I  wish  it  may  not  look  back  to  any  offense 
past,  for  that  strikes  before  it  warns.  I  wish  also  it  may 
be  dechu-ed  to  be  temporary,  until  a  parliament ;  for  that 
will  be  very  acceptable  to  the  parliament ;  and  it  is  good 
to  teach  a  parliament  to  work  upon  an  edict  or  proclama- 
tion precedent. 

For  the  manner  ;  I  should  think  fit  there  be  published 
a  grave  and  severe  proclamation,  induced  by  the  overflow 
of  the  present  mischief. 

For  the  ordinance  itself  :  first,  I  consider  that  offense 
hath  vogue  only  amongst  noble  persons,  or  persons  of 
quality.  I  consider  also  that  the  greatest  honor  for  sub- 
jects of  quality  in  a  lawful  monarchy,  is  to  have  access 
and  approach  to  their  sovereign's  sight  and  person,  which 
is  the  fountain  of  honor  ;  and  though  this  be  a  comfort 
all  persons  of  quality  do  not  use  ;  yet  there  is  no  good 
spirit  but  will  think  himself  in  darkness,  if  he  be  de- 
barred of  it.  Therefore  I  do  propound  that  the  princi- 
pal part  of  the  punishment  be,  that  the  offender  (in  the 
oases  hereafter  set  down)  be  banished  perpetually  from 
approach  to  the  courts  of  the  King,  Queen,  or  Prince. 

Secondly,  That  the  same  offender  receive  a  strict 
prosecution  by  the  King's  attorney,  ore  tenus,  in  the 
Star-Chamber  ;  (for  the  fact  being  notorious,  will  always 
be  confessed,  and  so  made  fit  for  an  ore  terms').  And 
that  this  prosecution  be  without  respect  of  per-sons,  be 
the  offenders  never  so  great ;  and  that  the  fine  set  be  ir- 
remissible. 

Lastly,  For  the  cases,  that  they  be  these  following :  — 

1.  Where  any  singular  combat,  upon  what  quarrel  so- 
ever, is  acted  and  performed,  though  death  do  not  ensue. 

2.  Where  any  person  passeth  beyond  the  seas,  with 


708  THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  DUELS.  [Book  IV. 

purpose  to  perform    any  singular  combat,  though  it  be 
never  acted. 

3.  Where  any  person  sendeth  a  challenge. 

4.  Where  any  person  accepteth  a  challenge. 

5.  Where  any  person  carrieth  or  delivereth  a  chal- 
lenge. 

6.  Where  any  person  appointeth  the  field,  directly  or 
indirectly,  although  it  be  not  upon  any  cartel  or  chal- 
lenge in  writing. 

7.  Where  any  person  accepteth  to  be  a  second  in  any 

quarrel. 

This  advice  was  substantially  acted  upon.     "  His  Maj- 
esty's edict  and  severe  censure  against  private  combats 
and  combatants,"  etc.  (which  seems  to  have  been  meant 
for  such  a  "  grave  and  severe  proclamation  "  as  Bacon 
recommended),  was  published  in  the  course  of   the  au- 
tumn, and  contained  an  explanation  of  the  intentions  of 
the  Government  much  in    accordance  with    his  sugges- 
tions.    The  composition,  however,  having  been  left  to  the 
care  and  taste  of  the  Earl  of  Northampton,  it  is  difficult 
to  get  at  the  matter  for  the  art,  and  it  can  hardly  have 
taken    effect   upon    popular   opinion.       It  was  probably 
from  a  p(n-cei)tion  of  this   (though   such  a   motive  could 
not  V)(i  declared)  that  Bacon  took  another  course  to  make 
the    d(;termination    of    the    Government    in    the    matter 
known  and  respected.     Sir  Henry  Hobart,  when  he  was 
raised  to  tlui  Bench,  liad  in  his  hands  a  case  of  duelling. 
In  what  shape  it  came  before;  him    and  how  he  proposed 
to  treat  it,  we   are  not   informed  ;  but  it  was  a  case  in 
point  and  ready  for  hearing.     A  challenge  had  been  sent 
and  refused.     The;  ])ersons  were  obscure,  and  there  does 
not  appear  to  have  been   anything  in    the  circumstances 
to  aggravate  the  offcMise,  but  it  would  serve  the  ]iurpose 
of  an  exanii)le  and  ('])roperly  handled)  of  a  proclamation. 
Bacon  accordingly  brought  it  before  the  Star  Chamber  at 


1612-13.]  THR  SUPPRESSION   OF   DUELS.  709 

the  first  sitting  of  the  Court  in  Hilary  Term  (26  Jan- 
nary,  1618-14),  and  handled  it  so  tliat  the  publication  of 
his  speech  with  the  decree  of  the  Court  annexed  (which 
was  part  of  the  order)  formed  an  excellent  declaration 
both  or  the  state  of  the  law  with  regard  to  challenges 
and  the  resolution  of  the  Government  to  enforce  it. 

Note  on  the  Terms  Subsidy  akd  Fifteenth. 

"An  aid  to  be  levied  of  every  subject  of  his  lands  or  goods,  after  the  rate  ol 
4s.  in  the  pound  for  lands  and  2s.  8d.  for  goods,  to  such  ends,  ....  and  to  be 
paid  at  such  times,  as  by  the  Acts  thereof  do  appear."  "  AJifteeti  is  a  tempo- 
rary aid  granted  to  the  King  by  Parliament,  which  without  further  inquiry  is 

certain Of  ancient  time,  the  fifteenth  part  of  goods  movable  ;  but  in 

8  Ed.  III.,  all  the  cities,  boroughs,  and  towns  in  England  were  rated  certainly 
at  the  fifteenth  part  of  the  value  at  that  time  generally  upon  the  whole  town." 
....  "There  is  a  decimapars  of  the  laity,  and  for  the  most  part  of  cities  and 
boroughs,  b}''  their  goods,  which  proportionably  is  secundum  decimam  quintain 
partevi.^'  ....  "In  former  times  ....  the  Commons  never  gave  above  one 
subsidy  of  this  kind  and  two  fifteens  (and  sometimes  less);  one  subsidy  amount- 
ing to  j£70,000,  and  each  fifteen  to  ^29,000,  or  near  thereabouts.    Nor  above 

one  subsidy,  which  did  rise  to  £20,000,  the  clergy  gave  not In  31  Eliz. 

the  Commons  gave  two  subsidies  and  four  fifteens,  which  first  brake  the  circle." 
(Coke's  Inst.,  part  iv.,  c.  1.) 


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